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The Truth about Hydrogen

Real Engineering · 5.7M views · 2018-07-27 · 14:58

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Overview

Real Engineering examines the efficiency of hydrogen as an energy carrier. It follows production, storage and fuel cell conversion losses and compares hydrogen cars with battery electric vehicles.

On Hacker News

HN links it in hydrogen threads as a clear breakdown of why compounded inefficiencies make hydrogen a poor fit for cars, though one commenter calls it outdated.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2018–2021

Topics

Renewables, batteries & storageCars, EVs & motorcycles
Search by tags
hydrogenfuel cellsbattery electric vehiclesenergy storageefficiency

What people said

rdedev · 2021-03 · Recommendation

[VIDEO] This video gives a good breakdown on how the inefficiencies in hydrogen fuel cell based cars add up. The best case scenario for hydrogen based land transport I can think of is probably in the trucking industry where engine weight, range and refuelling time are important factors

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nuccy · 2020-09 · Recommendation

Hydrogen is not a good (at the moment at least) source of energy or fuel for cars or industry (chemically speaking, obviously much better together with Deuterium and Tritium for fission, though we are still from such a technology). Steam reforming, which is currently the most common way of hydrogen production, uses natural gas and water and produces plenty of CO2 [1]. Nice summary as for cars fuel application here [2]. [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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dmix · 2020-07 · Recommendation

Now I'm curious how Hyundai or the stations actually produce the hydrogen fuel. Edit: this video had a good overview of the various production methods, including on-site at the fuel station [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Real Engineering, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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