Is hydrogen a truly clean fuel source?

In a story by Wheelbase Media's Todd Burlage, hydrogen power has charged to the forefront of the alternative-fuel world with automakers such as Hyundai and Toyota already in the process of building a limited number of “production” vehicles.

Hydrogen looked like a good idea a few years ago, but it kind of fell off the map as the vehicles were outrageously expensive and the fuel not just scarce but virtually unattainable.

Simply put, hydrogen is converted to electricity to power an electric car. It’s carried in a tank and a ‘fuel cell’ converts the hydrogen to electricity through a chemical process.

Similar technology has been used to create electricity during space travel, so it's really not all that new. Electricity is created as you drive, which takes care of two of the biggest problems with current battery-electric cars: time waiting for it to charge; and battery range.

As long as there’s hydrogen in the tank, you’re moving.

The only thing that comes out the tailpipe is warm water, which is another reason for even considering hydrogen. It solves the battery limitations of current electrics without any emissions. Seems pretty great, right?

The thing is that the fuel cell does not exactly replace the batteries, which inflates the cost, since a hydrogen car has to also carry the fuel tanks and the fuel cell (multiple cells are referred to as a stack). That’s a lot of gear.

So, why the hydrogen resurgence? Nissan says the price of the technology has dropped 85 per cent in the last decade, which makes the tech worth exploring. But what about the hydrogen itself?

The few fuelling stations that actually exist — like, maybe 15 in the United States — are largely independent in that they make hydrogen all by themselves. No expensive tanker-truck networks are needed to keep them topped up, which is the case with gasoline. And there’s no drilling for oil and no refineries, further cutting pollution.

But the irony is that although hydrogen is the most abundant resource in the universe, it’s impossible to come by in a pure state. It has to be processed from something that has hydrogen in it. Like water . . . the most precious resource on Earth. Or gasoline . . . what we’re all trying to get away from.

And that’s the punchline, proving that there’s no free ride when it comes to using a substance as a fuel. Neither of these resources is renewable. And what about the increased electricity required to process hydrogen on a large enough scale to replace the burning of fossil fuels for transportation? A lot of electricity produced today comes from coaland oil-fired generating stations. To get away from that, would we have to blanket our deserts with solar panels and wind farms?

Does hydrogen make sense, then? To me, the much simpler long-term approach would be to solar charge an electric car at home and develop faster charging and better batteries for more range. Leave the gas in the ground and the water for drinking.

Jeff Melnychuk is Wheelbase Media’s Managing Editor. Wheelbase supplies automotive news and features to newspapers across North America.