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The issue is that you're going from a fuel that produces net energy to a fuel that loses net energy. No amount of efficiency gains can overcome that.
by janef0421 4y ago
The issue is that you're going from a fuel that produces net energy to a fuel that loses net energy. No amount of efficiency gains can overcome that.
- adgjlsfhk1 4y agowhat do you mean by "loses net energy"?
- carbonguy 4y agoPresumably that it costs more energy to produce hydrogen than you get back when you use it as a fuel, which is strictly true for all fuels; however, with fossil fuels, the energy cost of production has mostly been "paid" already.
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoBut it's still not true as stated. Well to Wheel analysis reliably shows that hydrogen FCEV are more energy efficient than ICE vehicles. (Battery EV are better again, because Hydrogen productiom does use some energy). So efficiency improvements make FCEVs more energy efficient overall, despite the Hydrogen production step replacing fossil fuels.
- janef0421 4y agoI don't think a "well-to-wheel" analysis is relevant here, for two reasons. First, because it involves electrical energy as an intermediate product, which could be converted to kinetic energy in ways that are orders of magnitude more efficient. Second, because I'm analysing this based on the amount of energy that is initially invested, not the total quantity of energy that exists in nature. EDITED because I said converted to electrical energy when I meant kinetic energy.