Why cant we get hydrogen cars?

Question

Why can't the government take part of its 20-25% gas tax and use it to pay companies like Marathon/ExxonMobil/etc all costs associated with developing and making available Hydrogen for cars at all their gas stations? Then all the car-makers could develop hydrogen cars which people would actually be able to use. Sorry, this is kind of rhetorical question but I am open to any criticism or comments.

Answer 1

First you need to have drivers who really want such cars.

Second you need really large scale production of hydrogen, with a suitable distribution system( remember it is highly dangerous)

Third you need a network of service stations capable of safely storing and dispensing hydrogen. Remember that today almost all  gas stations are self serve which would be highly dangerous with hydrogen

Fourth you would have to have, nationally, mechanics everywhere skilled in servicing cars so equipped.

All of the above were problems when cars first became popular. At one point steam almost won out over gasoline until steam car drivers were required to have stationary engineer licenses(to qualify them to operate high pressure steam equipment)

Answer 2

Besides the costs of changing automotive production lines and building new gas stations and the costs for creating and transporting hydrogen, it's not as efficient yet.

Go to the link below for a nice summary.

Answer 3

Hydrogen is highly explosive. And it's not that easy.

Answer 4

The problem with hydrogen is it is highly explosive. Your fuel tank would potentially be a bomb.

Answer 5

hydrogen is explosive most people dont want to buy a new car

Answer 6

as long as there is big$$$ in oil, alternative fuel source will come slowly

Answer 7

GM actually has a fully functioning fleet of hydrogen vehicles that are really cool.  The vehicle itself is not the problem, the fuel is.  The challenge is to be able to package/process hydrogen in such a way as to make it less explosive.  

What I find interesting is that the best way to create hydrogen is to expose water to extreme heat.  You can do this by using a petroleum supplied heat source which defeats the purpose, or you can use geothermal energy.  Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic rift, which makes it very rich in geothermal energy.  I find it interesting that if the packaging issues are worked out, Iceland could become the Saudi Arabia of the future.

Answer 8

Hydrogen is so dangerous it is like making nitroglycerin. There are many pit falls along the way. To fill a tank ,it must first be purged of all oxygen. If u fill it with oxygen it has been nice knowing U.

Answer 9

Ummm...to my knowledge they already fund exxon shell etc...to make hydrogen technology.

Hydrogen just doesn't seem like the best solution right now. I mean all technology advances if you give it time so it might be a great source one day but I think there are technologies that are further along that would deserve the funding first.

Problems of hydrogen fuel cells that need to be fixed before everyone jumps on that bandwagon

1)Though hydrogen is plentiful element most of it is bonded with another element such as oxygen(water) so electrolysis is needed to separate the hydrogen. Which initial energy is needed to separate. Unless they find a REALLY efficient way of doing this you might as well use that initial energy for an electric car or compressed air car.(Some sources say electric cars are 3-4 times of efficient than hydrogen right now)

2)Making a fueling infrastructure is going to be very costly. And until there are a lot of fueling stations no one is going to want to buy one not knowing where the nearest station is.

3)Some people argue the safety of hydrogen since its highly flammable. I personally have no opinion if it is any more or less dangerous than gasoline.

4)Hydrogen fuel cells are sensitive to freezing temperates and fragile to the shock an average car expreiences.

5)It's hard to store and transport.

But anyways I think funding exxon etc... is not a good route. those companies are there for a profit. They will innovate but private companies concerns are making money. Now if exxon has the technology for hydrogen(like they are investing in) but they also have trillions of dollars to make with oil....what do you think they are going to do until then? abandon money making oil for hydrogen? NO! They are going to milk the oil cow dry and THEN bring out hydrogen cars THEN gouge us on that too.

The funding should go to universities and such they will find a good reliable new source and improve on it, NOT private capitalist companies.

Answer 10

Hydrogen is not an answer to fuel problems - see the film "Who Killed the electric car" for reasons behind this. However Hydrogen on demand systems are in use today that produce hydrogen from water, supplementing your petrol (gas) usage. There are reports of up to 100% improvement in mpg so this is a worthwhile technology. On top of that it is simple and cheap.

Answer 11

With the government profiting so much off of oil, they will not seek out alternate power sources...

As we speak the U.S. has monopolized the oil in Iraq, and as we gain more and more control of the oil, the price keeps rising, right by my house it is up to $4.01 for regular gasoline... they will not give that up