We can we see Hydrogen replace gas.?

Question

Can hydrogen fuel cars on the road today? Does anyone know the progress we've made in replacing gas, soon? I would hate to see gas hit $10 a gallon before anything gets done.

Answer 1

I hope never.

I don't want people driving around with a Hydrogen tank.  Any accident will be potentially lethal.  I certainly wouldn't trust any Soccer Mom to safely refill her SUV with compressed Hydrogen at filling stations.

Answer 2

It can. Theres no massive fueling infrastructure though. For instance this summer the Honda Clarity will be hitting the road in southern California and its a hydrogen fueled car.

But think about it have you ever seen a hydrogen station? Didn't think so. Someone would have to pay for and build tens of thousands at least before people would really consider wanting to buy a hydrogen car. But the question is who is going to pay for it? How much is it going to cost. How would that effect the price of hydrogen fuel.

Hydrogen fuel cells are costly, hard to maintain, fragile, expensive to build,  and hydrogen is hard to store and transport. Like the Honda check out the Clarity

http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity...

$600/month lease. Thats pretty steep for a car you won't even end up owning after 3 years.

I don't get why people are getting so excited about hydrogen. Hydrogen as a 'single' element is not very abundant on Earth. It's mainly bonded with Oxygen in water. Yes we do have a ton of water but it's not like water "burns" as fuel you have to separate the hydrogen from it usually through electrolysis. That requires ENERGY!!! Often times from electricity which is ultimately produced by coal. Therefore it would be less efficient than an electric car. An electric car you can use the original source the electric power plant to fuel your car instead of a hydrogen car which water is gather then using ELECTRICITY to split the hydrogen, gathering the hydrogen, then transporting the hydrogen. You see where there is lost efficiency in that.

Fully electric car and compressed air cars are more efficient.

Compressed air cars are cheaper(how does $3000-$8000 new sound to you??) And require less maintenance because the compressed air pushes the pistons in the engine instead of explosion like an internal combustion engine theres no need for oil(lubrication or at least very little oil since the air acts as a lubricant) no need for a radiator, exhaust or any of that stuff. The range is somewhere around 110 miles off about $3 of compressed air. This is more efficient than hydrogen but less than a fully electric car. Because to power the air compressor requires energy(electricity) so there is a little lose of energy going from electricity to compressing the air.

Fully electric plug in cars are more expensive I think the cheapest one produce would be around $35,000(at least to start with). But the efficiency of getting the power straight from the wall is extremely high.

Don't hold me to these numbers but I believe a regular gasoline car's efficiency is around 15% a hybrid gas/electric like a Prius is about 30% a hydrogen car is from 40-60% and electric 80-90% and a compressed air car would fall somewhere in between the hydrogen and electric.

I just bought a Nissan Altima love it but gas is getting crazy. Compressed air cars aren't too fast but they are cheap to use and maintain so if they ever released them in the US I'd gladdly pay for one of those and use it for commuting to school and work and only drive my Altima for dates and stuff.

Answer 3

it is possible that hydrogen will replace gas in the future but I think they're still trying to figure out how to make it work

Answer 4

Hydrogen is far too dangerous to use as fuel now.

Answer 5

Yes hydrogen will replace petroleum..... in about 75 years...

If you can't wait that long then here's some other options:

Fossil fuels will continue to be used but it will not come from conventional sources:

-  There will be more oils from oil sands,

-  There will be oil from oil shale,

-  There will be petroleum substitutes created from coal,

-  There will be greater use of natural gas,

-  There will be mining the methane hydrates from the oceans.

Besides increased use of other fossil fuels we will be making greater use of nuclear and solar energy sources.

Then of course there is the bio-fuels:

First generation:  Ethanol from sugar cane, sugar beets and corn.

Second generation:  Diesel oils, ethanol and green gasoline from wood, switch grass, and other cellulose (non-food) products.

Third generation:  Diesel oils from algae...  Just add sunlight and CO2... yep, it takes the greenhouse gases out and reduces global warming.  And its the most efficient form of diesel oil production.

All these things will be used with different levels of success before we have the technology to enter the hydrogen economy.  And the hydrogen economy really will not get that successful until we can succeed with artificial photosynthesis.

The biggest change you will see in the next five years will be new hybrid electric/gasoline vehicles which will be modified so that they use only electric for the first 40 miles, or so... In doing this you will see a great reduction in the use of gasoline.  People will talk about getting 100 mpg. At that time, gasoline prices will come down.... but we may still may see $10 gallon before that happens.