HYDROGEN USE IN VEHICLES

Today, there are an estimated 400 to 500 hydrogen-fueled vehicles in the U.S., mostly in California. Most of these vehicles are buses and automobiles powered by electric motors. They store hydrogen gas or liquid on board and convert the hydrogen into electricity for the motor using a fuel cell. Only a few of these vehicles burn the hydrogen directly (producing almost no pollution). The present cost of fuel cell vehicles greatly exceeds that of conventional vehicles in large part due to the expense of producing fuel cells.

Hydrogen vehicles are starting to move from the laboratory to the road. One California family has recently leased a hydrogen car for personal use. The U.S. postal service, a package delivery company, a few Florida Park rangers, and a few private utility companies are also using hydrogen vehicles. It will probably be at least 10 years, though, before you can walk into your local car dealer and drive away in an affordable hydrogen-powered car. 

Even then, you will need a place to refuel your hydrogen car. Currently, there are 63 hydrogen refueling stations nationwide, about half of which are located in California. This is the so-called “chicken and egg” problem that hydrogen developers are working hard to solve. Namely: who will buy hydrogen cars if there are no refueling stations? And who will pay to build a refueling station if there are no cars and customers? 

One possible solution is to eliminate refueling stations entirely. Automobile manufacturers have already designed a refrigerator-sized hydrogen generator for your garage that works off electricity.  Consumers would simply refill their cars with hydrogen each night while it is parked.

Hydrogen has great potential as an environmentally clean energy fuel and as a way to reduce reliance on imported energy sources. Before hydrogen can play a bigger energy role and become a widely used alternative to gasoline, many new facilities and systems must be built. We will need facilities to make hydrogen, store it, and move it. We will need economical fuel cells. And consumers will need the technology and the education to safely use it.

Last Reviewed: October 2008 
Sources: Energy Information Administration, The Impact of Increased Use of Hydrogen on Petroleum Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions, August 2008.
Energy Information Administration, Alternatives to Traditional Transportation Fuels 2006, May 2008.
The National Energy Education Development Project, Intermediate Energy Infobook, 2005.