Hydrogen fuel cell cars vs. electric cars: which really is the car of the future?

With gas prices so high, alternative fuel vehicles have become a popular topic. Two of the types of vehicles that tend to get a lot of attention in the press are hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles and electric powered vehicles. Both are praised as the way of the future.

But which of these two options is really more likely to be the car that your children drive.

Let’s look at hydrogen fuel cells first. When burned in an engine, the only emissions that are emitted are water, so a hydrogen powered vehicle is a zero emission vehicle. Hydrogen is also a better fuel than gasoline, actually having the highest energy content per unit weight of any known fuel.

Hydrogen is also a very abundant element. While current methods of producing hydrogen are done by using fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, and oil, Americans would no longer be dependent on foreign oil. Also, hydrogen can be extracted from water and we all know that there is a lot of water on this planet.

However, hydrogen is not without its drawbacks. Probably the biggest problem right now is that it would require a whole new infrastructure. While gas stations could be equipped with hydrogen fueling stations, that would take years. Also, the technology to store hydrogen efficiently isn’t quite ready for prime time yet.

Then there is the electric car. Electric cars can also be considered zero emission vehicles as they do not emit any emissions when they are running. However, electric cars require power from the electrical grid, which emits emissions. However, as the power grid gets cleaner, so do electric cars, and electric cars are substantially less polluting than gasoline cars due to the fact that power plants are much cleaner and more efficient than a internal combustion engine in a vehicle.

The technology for conventional electric cars is also not ready for all the major manufacturers to stop making gasoline cars, but it is much closer than hydrogen currently is. The challenge with electric cars right now is the batteries. Batteries are expensive and current models like the Tesla Roadster have a range of only 250 miles, great for touring but not so great for road trips. The other issue is the time it takes for these vehicles to charge. It’s not just about stopping at the local power plant, plugging in for five minutes, and walking away. A typical charge cycle for current prototypes is 4-5 hours; again, it’s fine if you’re traveling, but impossible for a road trip. While technology is developing to make charging your vehicle as fast as filling it with gasoline, it has a long way to go before it’s ready, just like hydrogen fuel cells.

Electric car fleets will no doubt hit the roads before hydrogen fuel cell cars, but which ends up being the vehicle of choice for American drivers remains to be seen, as both have many challenges to overcome before the people easily give up their cheap. gasoline cars in favor of these alternatives.