Hydrogen Verses the Battery

Ford Focus Electric Forum

Help Support Ford Focus Electric Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jeffand

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 31, 2013
Messages
441
Location
WI
http://heshydrogen.com/hydrogen-fuel-cost-vs-gasoline/
What is the cost of hydrogen? I found this web site above that tried to make it look like hydrogen was a cheap fuel source. But looking at the numbers I did notice that they were only using $0.03 per Kwh of electricity. I did some checking and found that southern California off peak residential rate is $0.11 per Kwh. I imagine there is some power company that is charging this low of a rate some place, but not in California. This means to get this cost savings they would need to produce only during off peak times. This would limit the amount of hydrogen that can be produce from water. They used the number of 60 Kwh to produce the equivalent energy to one gallon of gasoline. How far does your EV go on 60 Kwh of electricity? One gallon of gasoline has the equivalent energy of 33.7 Kwh. The Honda FCX Clarity can travel 60 miles on 1 Kilogram of hydrogen. 1 Kilogram of hydrogen has the energy density of 33.3 Kwh. Most electric vehicles have over 100 MPGe ratings. We can see that the battery is more efficient over the fuel cell. Using an electrolyzer to extract hydrogen from water is less efficient then charging a battery. This is why an electric vehicle will go 2 to 3 times further on the same amount of energy. The fact is the cheapest source for hydrogen is from waste gasses from manufacturing and land fill gasses. You can also get hydrogen from natural gas. Which is cheap right now.

The Honda FCX Clarity uses a 5000 PSI hydrogen tank.
 
It's hard to get consistent estimates of the cost of hydrogen, but it seems generally on par with gasoline.

The real issue is the availability. I just called the one Shell station who carries hydrogen in my area to inquire about the current cost and the told me hydrogen was taken out...no longer available.

Unlike electricity which is available at your home and a zillion other places, hydrogen is very hard to find. I cannot imagine fire codes allowing home hydrogen stations...our company has one and to get it permitted was a very, very, VERY big deal.

I truly don't see the logic.
 
michael said:
The real issue is the availability. I just called the one Shell station who carries hydrogen in my area to inquire about the current cost and the told me hydrogen was taken out...no longer available.

Unlike electricity which is available at your home and a zillion other places, hydrogen is very hard to find. I cannot imagine fire codes allowing home hydrogen stations...our company has one and to get it permitted was a very, very, VERY big deal.

I truly don't see the logic.
I agree completely! The wonderful thing about electricity is that it's available everywhere. 120V outlets are so plentiful. It might be a slow way to charge, but it can be done when you're charging overnight.
 
Hydrogen is a silly power source. Electricity to battery is much much much more efficient.

What we really need are pods on rails that get power straight from the rail with computer controlled destinations. Then you don't need any batteries other than a small 12v. And the pod would cost not much more than 3-5k.
 
WattsUp said:
damania said:
What we really need are pods on rails that get power straight from the rail
But then we'd need rails to go everywhere.

On some of the other boards, people are really into the concept of the "electric highway" with charging stations spaced along the freeway. Then they argue bitterly about exactly which route should be electrified.
 
WattsUp said:
damania said:
What we really need are pods on rails that get power straight from the rail
But then we'd need rails to go everywhere.

it would cost less to build rails then to put asphalt and concrete everywhere.
 
WattsUp said:
damania said:
WattsUp said:
But then we'd need rails to go everywhere.
it would cost less to build rails then to put asphalt and concrete everywhere.
But... there's already asphalt and concrete everywhere.

is it the cheapest, safest, most comfortable method of travel or can we do one better?
 
What about an Battery / Hydrogen Hybrid? Same drive-train, different fuel source...A hydrogen range extender. If the fuel cell were intended to be enabled before the battery is depleted, then the size wouldn't need to be so large as to provide energy real-time.
 
Back
Top