The Hydrogen Car: Coming Soon to a Highway Near You?

Key Takeaways:

• Hydrogen cars are far from being a hoax. Hydrogen cell-powered electric vehicles (HCFVs) exist. 
• These vehicles emit nothing but water vapor, which makes them revolutionary in the automobile industry.
• Hydrogen cell vehicles are also known as “fuel cell electric vehicles” (FCEV), which are more efficient than traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles.
• Some of the benefits of FCEVs are fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduced air pollutants.
• Some of the challenges FCEVs face are their cost and infrastructure. 

Decades ago, we might have imagined cars that could run on water. Many thought that such vehicles couldn’t possibly exist, some thought they were a hoax, and some thought there was a conspiracy behind why such cars could never be made. 

Fast-forward to the present times. While we currently don’t use water the way we pump gas for our cars, hydrogen cars exist. Hydrogen cell-fueled vehicles (HCFVs) emit nothing but water vapor, which makes it revolutionary in the automobile industry. It just might be the ultimate in clean vehicles. 

Hydrogen is known to be the most abundant element in the universe, according to The Royal Society of Chemistry, and can be found in the most quantities in water. This is why scientists are very interested in its potential for fuel, especially for vehicles, which in the Philippines accounted for about 35.42 million tons of CO2 in 2022. 

The mandate to reduce land vehicles’ carbon footprint has become critical, and OEMs hope hat the shift to electric vehicles will dramatically contribute to this. While many car manufacturers are making electric counterparts of traditional ICE-powered vehicles, researchers are also working on innovations for the hydrogen cell-powered vehicle. 

To date, major automakers such as Hyundai, Toyota, Honda, BMW, and Audi have been making hydrogen cars. Newer OEMs that manufacture only electric vehicles such as Riversimple from the UK, and the Nikola Corporation from the U.S. are following their lead. 

Car and Driver says that compared to millions of electric vehicles on the road in the U.S., there are only 17,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles, and their concentration is in the state of California, where hydrogen fueling stations are available. 

The focus of automakers seems to be on EVs, but work on hydrogen-powered cars seems to be staying in the background for now. 

Hydrogen cars are one type of fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV). According to the U.S. Department of Energy, these vehicles are more efficient than traditional internal combustion engine-powered vehicles and produce no harmful tailpipe emissions—just water vapor. 

These vehicles run on a propulsion system, just like electric vehicles. The vehicle’s energy is stored as pure hydrogen and converted to electricity by its fuel cell. 

It’s worth looking into the long-term benefits of HCFVs. The biggest one is fewer carbon emissions. HFCVs generate a lot less carbon emissions compared to traditional ICE vehicles. It eliminates the dependence on oil-derived fuel, which is a non-renewable energy source. And because it emits nothing but water vapor, HFVCs help lessen air pollutants. 

On the other hand, hydrogen cars come with some steep challenges, which is why these are not as dominant as electric or even hybrid vehicles at the moment. For one thing, the cost of the vehicle itself is quite high. Hydrogen Insight says that it is fourteen times more expensive to drive a Toyota hydrogen car than it is to drive a Tesla EV. 

Though it may be the most abundant element on earth, hydrogen in its pure form is rare, and it takes a massive amount of energy to derive it from other elements it is combined with. There are a few hydrogen-fueling stations found in California, which explains why there are more hydrogen cars on the road in the state. 

The same challenges that EVs face become more pronounced for HCVFs—vehicle cost and infrastructure and ecosystem being the two biggest ones. However, this does not deter scientists and researchers to keep making improvements and innovations toward the hydrogen vehicle. 

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) opened the government’s first hydrogen fuel research and testing center in 2023, where studies on a fuel cell prototype made from local materials are being conducted.