When can people expect hydrogen fuel cell cars to be the regular car?

Question

And will hydrogen ever run out? I mean, it IS the most abundant element in the universe, but there's only so much "universe" humans can reach, and it's not like anything on Earth just makes water.

Answer 1

1. I mean using bacteria utilizing them.

2. Space harvester (Using Sun gravity with strong magnetic and gravity pull equipments) stationed in lunar probes.

Answer 2

We should be open minded.

We'll probably be using gas-electric hybrids for a long time, there will also be electric cars, and hydrogen fuel cars.

It will be at least 50 years before hydrogen cars become common and hydrogen fuel, which is expensive to produce and transport right now, becomes cheaply available.

Answer 3

when, is a good question.  seen any hydrogen fuel pumps around?  heard of any comming to your town?  who's gonna put up pumps when there's no cars that need them? who's gonna buy the car when there's no fuel around and easily accessable?

Answer 4

good question... it is looking more and more likely there will be some form of alternative energy powered cars soon, hydrogen fuel cell cars are amongst the top of the list... BMW is already working to put one into production.

hydrogen generation does require energy to produce, much of the power plants are coal fired... which are not considered clean energy.... nor endless, yet abundant for now.... (China has already noticed a problem with coal not being sufficient to power the plants it has and has slowed down in the building and bringing on line future plants due to coal production issues)

   with the drive towards solar power and wind power, much of our energy needs will become more self sufficient and sustaining.... and clean...

my uneducated blue collar guess is we can expect to see hydrogen fuel cell cars on our streets by 2015, optimistically 2010 in upper end cars like the Beemer... with infrastructure (refueling stations)  fully operational nationwide by 2012, geographically operational by 2010... in major cities

hydrogen fuel cells are already used in some transportation buses and many fleet automobiles

i personnally filled out the General Motors application to recieve a fuel cell suv to used as a commuter test vehicle but did not qualify...

Answer 5

The people can expect hydrogen fuel, when oil's company could gets the same quantity of money that they gets with the usual fuel... Maybe... :(

Like a fuel I think it will not run out, because the results of his combustion is water... And anyway, It cannot disappear.

But it could bind to something else and becoming unuseful for us. I hope it will never happens.

Answer 6

I expect to see hydrogen fuel cells in use in 20 years, but they are a stop gap measure that will not be implemented for long.

First we don't have the existing infrastructure to make the hydrogen gas pumps.  Hydrogen has to be stored under pressure and away from any sparks, it is much more flammable that gasoline.  It also has to be made.  The storage facilities alone are expensive and too much for the average gas station owner who is an independent and makes only a few cents on a gallon of gas.

Then there is the cost of creating that hydrogen; you need electricity and lots of it.  Most of it is made with power coming from dirty power plants like coal and oil burners.  So the savings in green house gases is a wash.

A hydrogen tank is more flammable than a standard gasoline tank and under pressure.  Hydrogen gas has no smell.  In real life you can shoot a gas tank on a car and only get a leak, even with a couple of shots.  A hydrogen fuel cell is much more likely to ignite.  That is what killed the crew on Apollo 1 a fire caused by a hydrogen fuel cell.  The technology is an old one and helped get us to the moon.  It hasn't been refined much since then.  It is still in use on the space shuttle because the burning of hydrogen is pure and the waste oxygen is breathable, but it is at the loss of water that could have been used by the crew.

We can use sea water to make hydrogen fuel, but that would leave a lot of salt and contaminates in the filters that would have to be cleaned out.  The bottom of the tank would be filled with crud.  The oxygen and hydrogen would be released as gases so that would be okay and easy to trap, but the tank would still have to be cleaned.

You can't pump hydrogen with a standard gasoline hose, you need more pressure and you need an airtight seal in the gas tank so the hose has to just fit in perfectly.  Hydrogen is much harder to use.

We have the existing infrastructure to use biodiesel.  With a little tuning any diesel vehicle can use biodiesel; sure it is for 1/2 that gas mileage, but the cost in parts is cheaper.  A hydrogen fuel cell means a totally new engine.

The governor of California is trying to push the hydrogen fuel cell and has even converted one of his HUMMERS to run that way, but I think it is a doomed plan.   Pure electricity is much better.

Currently electric cars are limited by the expensive, bulky, and heavy batteries, but with research in making lighter notebooks the cost and weight of those batteries is coming down.  If we switched to electric cars it would mean a totally new engine, but not a new infrastructure.  Every gas station is already equipped with electricity to run the pumps.  You can flash recharge a battery in a few minutes if you design it to be done so.  Lead Acid batteries need time and are big and heavy, the lithium batteries are better.  In fact one new design used the batteries as molded side panels to provide protection and save on space, while still providing power.

Electricity can also be made by solar, wind and wave motion power all of those are driven by the sun and totally renewable.  They will last for billions of years.  If we try to use hydrogen then we are putting a demand on fresh water, which we need to drink or we are draining our oceans and creating a lot of waster salty organic goo at the bottom of our tanks.  I think that hydrogen fuel cell technology is best left to the space program and not for vehicles on the road.

Answer 7

that is a open question, I'm going to say in 10 yrs. ---providing that the major oil Co's. haven't bought out the early manuf's then the planet would have to start with saline plants globally, to keep up with the demand

Answer 8

Don't expect hydrogen .  Expect electric .  Expect wind generators to be every where in the next ten years .  And expect electric cars to be the next generation of vehicles .  Expect batteries to go farther and electric cars to go faster than ever .  While hydrogen is the only hope for the internal combustion engine it just isn't a practical fuel for the future .  Hydrogen is a carrier of energy not a creator of energy .  It only carries as much energy as you put into it as you make it .  Instead of using electricity to create hydrogen use it to power a car motor directly .