Let’s Talk about the Hydrogen Technology.
However, in recent years, hydrogen technology has received a lot of criticism. I don’t believe hatred is justified. So let’s take a closer look at this. When does it make sense to use hydrogen power? Where does it not have it?
There are numerous advantages to hydrogen: no more smog-forming exhaust gases, no more carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, and no more concerns about oil supply shortages and rising prices. However, some difficult questions must be answered before mass-produced hydrogen cars begin to appear on the roads. What will be the source of hydrogen? What methods will motorists use to refuel? What kind of fuel storage will cars have? There’s also the issue of how to get the most out of the fuel’s energy for good on-road performance.
Hydrogen can be used in two types of engines: those with an internal combustion engine that has been converted to use it, and those that are made up of a stack of fuel cells. Cars have been powered by internal combustion engines since the beginning of time.
Hydrogen internal combustion engines have a number of issues, the most serious of which is efficiency. Only about a quarter of the available energy is used to propel your car forward.
Most automakers, on the other hand, believe that fuel cells driving an electric motor are a better option. Fuel cells, unlike heavy batteries that require frequent recharging, produce electricity as they go. The amount of power that a stack of cells can provide has greatly increased as a result of recent technological advancements. This has paved the way for fuel-efficient, low-polluting electric vehicles.
The efficiency of a fuel cell engine over a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine is a significant advantage. A fuel cell car will travel at least twice as far as a car with a converted internal combustion engine with the same amount of hydrogen.
Although hydrogen has many advantages as a vehicle fuel, it has a significant disadvantage in that it is difficult to store. This is due to the fact that hydrogen is a gas at normal temperatures. The obvious solutions are to either compress or liquefy the hydrogen. Tanks designed to hold hydrogen at extreme pressures or temperatures approaching absolute zero, on the other hand, are large and expensive. As a result, the main issues with refueling with liquid hydrogen are likely to be the high cost and large amount of energy required to liquefy the fuel. Even though it may reduce the distance between fills, filling with compressed hydrogen gas will most likely be more practical.
‘Remember the Hindenburg,’. The Aircraft Crash back in 1937.
In May 1937, this German passenger airship, which was kept aloft by hydrogen, crashed in flames as it approached Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. Thirty-five people died as a result of the accident. Helium, which cannot be burned, is now the preferred gas for lighter-than-air aircraft. Although hydrogen is highly flammable, recent research suggests that the fabric of the airship, not hydrogen, was the cause of the Hindenburg disaster. There’s no reason to believe hydrogen is any more dangerous as a fuel than gasoline, the explosive liquid now safely stored in the tanks of untold millions of automobiles.
Water is the only source of hydrogen that is potentially pollution-free. Researchers are investigating new methods for producing hydrogen from water, such as absorbing sunlight and splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using algae, bacteria, or photovoltaic cells. Electrolysis, which splits water into oxygen and hydrogen using an electric current, is the technology most likely to be adopted on a large scale.
As of today, there are a few hydrogen cars available, one of which is the Toyota Mirai. The Toyota Mirai is powered by a fuel-cell electric powertrain, which converts hydrogen into electricity using an on-board fuel cell—basically a mobile chemical lab. Fuel cells generate electricity by removing electrons from hydrogen atoms, which then bond with oxygen to form water, while the electrons drive the electric motor.
As a result, an electric vehicle is created that runs on hydrogen from a pump rather than electrons from the nation’s electrical grid. The Mirai’s electric motor produces 182 horsepower, which is sent to the rear wheels via a one-speed direct-drive transmission.
Although Tesla’s co-founder and CEO thought the idea was crazy because it goes against the idea of a sustainable environment, given that one of the most common ways to generate hydrogen is by burning fossil fuels.
