Why the hydrogen car has no future

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Hydrogen is an integral part of future mobility – but not as an alternative drive for cars. A comment.

In the past two years, the discussion about the future of mobility has rapidly gained momentum. Large parts of mankind have now understood that internal combustion engines in their current form have had their day. The big car manufacturers also see it that way, many of whom have already decided to phase out this technology in the medium term. Instead, they concentrate fully on the topic of electromobility. Even the Federal Environment Agency came to the conclusion in 2019 that electric cars are “the most cost-effective option for converting traffic to a greenhouse gas-neutral sector”.

And yet in discussions about electric cars there is always at least one person who explains that they will never buy “such environmentally harmful electronic waste”. In any case, “electric cars will not prevail, because the future belongs to the hydrogen car”. There are two options at this point: either roll your eyes and ignore the comment, or politely ask how they come to their opinion. Most of the time you get a dubious link from a Telegram group, or someone admits to having simply parroted the label on the FDP election poster.

Roughly estimated 99 percent of the people who see the future in the hydrogen car have never driven a hydrogen car. The irony is that roughly 99 percent of people who own a hydrogen car see no future in the hydrogen car. And there are good reasons for that.

To understand why the use of hydrogen or fuel cells in a car makes little or no sense, you don’t have to have studied physics or read scientific papers. It is enough to realize that a modern electric car brings around 70 to 80 percent of a kilowatt hour of electricity to the road as drive power. A hydrogen car needs twice to three times as much electricity for the same distance.

That brings us to the issue of efficiency. Because hydrogen does not occur naturally, but must first be generated by electrolysis. Water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen with the help of electricity. Afterwards, however, the hydrogen cannot be pumped through any pipelines, but has to be transported to the filling stations in special truck tanks. As if that weren’t enough, the necessary refueling systems are extremely expensive – and generally cannot refuel more than four to six cars an hour. This, in turn, is due to the fact that when a hydrogen car is refueled, large pressure differences occur and the tap can freeze up. This is why a certain amount of time must pass between two refueling processes.

In addition to the poor efficiency and the high costs for the infrastructure, there are also higher acquisition and maintenance costs. Because a hydrogen car has a similar structure to an electric car, but also has a highly complex fuel cell and a special tank. In the medium term, only the workshops of the car dealerships will benefit.

It is therefore hardly surprising that VW has already turned its back on hydrogen and that manufacturers such as Toyota are now also relying on electric cars.

But one must not make the mistake of writing off hydrogen as a technology entirely. On the contrary: hydrogen will play an elementary role in many areas in the future – just not in cars.

Two locations regularly listed in science are, for example, steel production and ammonia production. Because there, hydrogen, which was generated with electricity from renewable energies during overproduction times, can replace coal. This results in an immense CO2 saving potential up to and including climate neutrality.

And then there is the heavy goods traffic: trains, trucks and ships need a lot of energy due to their high weight. Here, larger ranges can only be mapped with difficulty with battery-based electromobility. For this, hydrogen or fuel cells can fully exploit their potential.

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