[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/EW-10-07-13-Hydrogen-Fueled-Cars.mp3|titles=EW 10-07-13 Hydrogen Fueled Cars]
We are starting see some real momentum in the adoption of electric cars. There are more models to choose from, and public charging stations are starting to show up in our neighborhoods.
But automakers are not placing all of their bets on battery-electric vehicles. In fact, most of the world’s leading automakers – including Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, General Motors, and BMW – are developing hydrogen-powered vehicles. These too are electric cars, but their power comes from fuel cells rather than from batteries.
Fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen to form water and generate electricity in the process. Fuel cell cars have distinct advantages over battery-powered cars. You fill up the tank with fuel and drive for hundreds of miles.
But there are obstacles standing in the way of the widespread use of hydrogen cars. Fuel cell technology is currently very expensive, largely because fuel cells use costly platinum as a catalyst. Hydrogen is a common industrial product, but is most economically made by reforming natural gas. That process produces carbon emissions, which tarnishes the environmental shine of driving with hydrogen. What is needed is an economic way to produce hydrogen by breaking down water.
Automakers are well aware of these issues and are working on their solutions along with the development of the vehicles. The first consumer hydrogen cars will be in the showrooms in next two or three years. Many experts believe that someday they will be what we all will drive.
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Hydrogen fuel may have a bright future, according to BMW
Photo, taken on January 28, 2011, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.