Why don't we all drive hydrogen fuel cars?

Answer 1

The main reason is because refueling facilities are not available.

Fortunately there is a company in Los Angeles that will convert an internal combustion engine to run on hydrogen instead of gasoline.

This is much cheaper than using a fuel cell, which is over $100,000 for the smallest economy car and several hundred thousand dollars for a full size sedan.

Hydrogen can be produced electrolytically from water. If the electricity was produced by wind power then there is no carbon dioxide emitted in the production of the hydrogen.

Unfortuately most electricity is produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Using that electricity to produce hydrogen does not cut down on carbon dioxide emissions.

Today most hydrogen is generated from natural gas which emits carbon dioxide in the process, defeating the purpose of using hydrogen in the first place.

Answer 2

We probably will, eventually. There are still some problems with H2 technology that must be ironed out:

1. Storage: there is a lot less energy per litre of H2 than per litre of gas, in order not to have to pull around a trailer for a gas tank the H2 gas has to be compressed A LOT! The US DOE is studying the use of carbon fibre fuel tanks because of the very high pressures involved.

2. Fuel cells: They are heavy, about 100X the weight of a car engine for the same power output. The catalyst is platinum which is too rare and expensive, they are looking at an iron based catalyst to replace the platinum which would at least solve the price problem for fuel cells.

3. Infrastructure: There are no H2 filling stations, delivery tankers, pipelines etc. No fuelling infrastructure. In the meantime you are more likely to see EVs or electric cars rather than H2 fuelled cars. Most electric cars are designed to be plugged in anywhere. So every wall plug is a "gas pump". Much easier to establish a distribution system using the current electrical grid.

Answer 3

Hydrogen technology is just starting to get past the experiment stages. The fuel cell concepts right now cost a couple million dollars a car. There are few companies that can also produce the components that are needed for hydrogen cars. Right now car companies are working on ways to make mass assembly for hydrogen cars for cost efficient so that the average consumer can afford them. Prices should go down a lot once technologies become more refined and more companies are able to produce the components. Most likely you will see hydrogen combustion engines before you see hydrogen fuel cell cars, but GM and Daimler Chrysler and coming along pretty fast on fuel cell cars.

On top of that, there is no distribution network for the fuel. I believe California is working on one, but it will probably be a good while till one is ever seen nationwide, probably like a decade or two.

Right now, our best option till then is E85, diesel cars, hybrid cars, and possibly soon plug-in gas/electric hybrids.

As far as producing hydrogen, that shouldn't be hard. Hydrogen is given off as a byproduct in many of the chemical processes that companies perform today to create stuff such as gasoline, pharmaceuticals, etc. There are also certain kinds of algae/plants that be kept in vats and used to produce hydrogen biologically. Then you could even use solar power or wind generated electric power to break water down into hydrogen and oxygen. So the cost of producing hydrogen should not be a factor.

I believe GM and Dupont have already partnered together to use some of GM's fuel cell technology not to power cars but to power some of Duponts plants. I may not be correct when I say Dupont, but I think that's who it is. The hydrogen collected as byproduct from their chemical processes is used to power fuel cell generators and the generators are used to produce electricity to power the plant. So not only may hydrogen one day fuel your car, it may one day power your house also. Think about it. Use solar power to break water down into hydrogen and oxygen. The stored hydrogen would replace the batteries that are now needed to store and use the solar power. Then as your house needs power the hydrogen fuel cell produces electricity for your house. The heat from the process could even be used to heat the house in winter.

Answer 4

Cars can run on hydrogen for combustion in which is expensive as well as being the least dense gas so that you need quite a lot of storage pressure "bang for buck".

Cars can also run on hydrogen through fuel cells, but the cost of the catalyst (platinum is excellent) + the above storage issues seems to rule out quite a bit.

It stills seems like a better deal than paying a ton of money to grow/fertilize/harvest/transport corn for ethanol.

Answer 5

There are a lot of contributing factors. Basically it comes down to cost: 1) Consumers have historically chosen the least expensive option versus the best option.....trend that is changing. 2) Oil suppliers make their money from oil and gas sales and worked really hard to sell us that their product rocks....when it causes cancer, global warming, and is dangerous. 3) Oil suppliers, car makers, and governments all make money off the sale of fossil fuel based energy. 4) These same groups have convienced not only us but themselves that their product is cheaper than any alternative.....truth is they sequester the dollars derived and spread the clean up costs and pollution throughout the environment for us to pay and all the while smilingly destroying the economy and quality of life for the short term profit.

Learn how to convert your car, make your own hydrogen fuel, and leave the fossil fuels behind. I am and you can too. see the links below

Answer 6

Because there is no naturally occurring source of hydrogen anywhere on Earth. And making hydrogen artificially causes as much pollution as just burning gasoline in the car. Anyway, there is no way to safely store large amounts of hydrogen in a car, because it is a very low density gas. You need a much bigger tank and it has to be under a dangerously high pressure to hold enough hydrogen to drive a reasonable distance.

Answer 7

The Government is to blame. They after money from oil. If we switched our source of fuel to something cheap, the government would not make any tax money. It is all a game. The world will end up so polluted in the end because the government did nothing about it.

Answer 8

Because some of us don't get BUSHES tax breaks like those who have children do. There for I pay all the taxes while they don't pay any taxes and have extra money to use to buy these cars.

Answer 9

The energy used to crack hydrogen from the other atoms that hydrogen loves to attach itself to is more than the the energy hydrogen produces.

Most industrial hydrogen is gotten from natural gas and the unfortunate by product of that procedure is CO2, one of the green house gases we are trying to avoid.

Plus, have you forgotten the Hindenburg?

Answer 10

better yet, we need to walk more, or ride bikes. I've seen people use cars to go to get a drink from a conveniant store about 30min walking time... crazy! that is a waste of gas, polutes the air more, and dosn't help your heart or wasteline any better.