The Truth about Hydrogen
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it in hydrogen threads as a clear breakdown of why compounded inefficiencies make hydrogen a poor fit for cars, though one commenter calls it outdated.
What it is
Real Engineering examines the efficiency of hydrogen as an energy carrier. It follows production, storage and fuel cell conversion losses and compares hydrogen cars with battery electric vehicles.
Recommended by 5 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2018 to 2021.
What Hacker News said
Recommends nayuki · 2018-12 · on “Water-stabilized hydrogen promises twice the range of gasoline at half the price”
Storing energy as hydrogen is much less efficient than storing energy in batteries. The channel Real Engineering explains: [this video] ; [LINK]
Recommends mcot2 · 2020-01 · on “Nuclear power is the only green solution (2004)”
I am sorry you are so misinformed. Lithium is a common abundant resource and battery packs are easily recycled but more importantly there is a financial incentive to do so. Manufacturing technology for cells is improving rapidly. Much faster than the pace of innovation in Hydrogen fuel cells. Most are focusing on reducing Cobalt and other techniques to reduce or eliminate chemicals and energy used in wet electrode processes. Hydrogen is pretty much DOA for cars. This is a good video on the subject: [this video]
Recommends dmix · 2020-07 · on “After many false starts, hydrogen power might now bear fruit”
Now I'm curious how Hyundai or the stations actually produce the hydrogen fuel. Edit: this video had a good overview of the various production methods, including on-site at the fuel station [this video]
Recommends nuccy · 2020-09 · on “Small nuclear reactors: tiny NuScale reactor gets safety approval”
Hydrogen is not a good (at the moment at least) source of energy or fuel for cars or industry (chemically speaking, obviously much better together with Deuterium and Tritium for fission, though we are still from such a technology). Steam reforming, which is currently the most common way of hydrogen production, uses natural gas and water and produces plenty of CO2 [1]. Nice summary as for cars fuel application here [2]. [1] [LINK] [2] [this video]
Recommends rdedev · 2021-03 · on “Toyota Develops Packaged Fuel Cell System Module for Hydrogen Utilization”
[this video] This video gives a good breakdown on how the inefficiencies in hydrogen fuel cell based cars add up. The best case scenario for hydrogen based land transport I can think of is probably in the trucking industry where engine weight, range and refuelling time are important factors
Cites agumonkey · 2020-10 · on “Separating Hype from Hydrogen: EU's 6GW Electrolyzer Plan”
This vid [this video] kinda says the same I like the H2 idea but it's really more complex than all electric it seems. And also late to the game. ps: to be fair, electric batteries and cars required a lot of faith to evolve and progress... who knows if someone won't come with a few innovations for H2 storage and distribution.
Cites JProthero · 2021-10 · on “Rivian S-1”
> Finally, electric cars charge at ~96% efficiency, while hydrogen is something like 40%. >> This claim has little substance and credibility. The efficiency of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles versus battery vehicles is considered in some detail in this video [1]. The conclusion [2] is that, in the best case, the energy efficiency from power generation to road for existing or near future hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is about 25%, compared to about 65% for typical existing battery vehicles. [1] [this video] [2] [this video]
Critical Hypx · 2020-01 · on “Nuclear power is the only green solution (2004)”
[LINK] Li-ion batteries are very poorly recycled if at all. There is poor financial incentive to recycle batteries, and in fact you lose more money than you get back for many components. Pace of hydrogen fuel cell innovation is moving at warp speed: [LINK] We could see FCEVs no more expensive than ICEVs. > Hydrogen is pretty much DOA for cars. This is a good video on the subject: [this video] It's a nonsense youtube video, citing claims that are a decade out of date.