My Eco-Innovation Four

Why Hydrogen Cars Will Be Tesla’s Biggest Threat

While everyone will tell you that the future of cars lies in electric vehicles and that Tesla is at the forefront of this movement, hydrogen cars can be just as good as, or even better than, electric vehicles.

Hydrogen cars are more likely to disrupt the automobile industry than electric cars. And even if Elon Musk calls it mind-bogglingly stupid, the hydrogen fuel cells technology has seen great skepticism, but holds great promise. Major carmakers like Toyota and Honda are still seeing promise in hydrogen-powered automobile technology.

Battery electric vehicles (BEV) like Tesla use a battery to store electricity and power the electric motor. A fuel cell vehicle (FCEV), for example, Toyota’s Mirai, combines hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, which powers the car’s electric motor.

Why Some People Don’t Buy Electric Cars?

• They take too long to charge.
• They have a limited distance range before needing to be charged.
• They are more expensive than gas-powered cars.

What about Hydrogen Cars? 

Hydrogen cars have battery electrics. When it comes to charging, a Tesla car charges between 15-30% in fifteen minutes and takes over an hour to charge fully. Fuel cell vehicles don’t require any charging. The hydrogen tank is filled at a hydrogen station in less than 5 minutes. Fuel cell vehicles don’t store electricity like a battery; they create it on demand to power the motor.

The three current hydrogen-powered cars available today have a range of 312 miles (Toyota Mirai), 360 miles (Honda Clarity) and 380 miles (Hyundai Nexo). Popular electric vehicles have ranges of 259 miles (Chevy Bolt), 239 miles (Kia Niro EV) and226 miles (Nissan Leaf). Some Tesla models have a higher autonomy, for example, Tesla Model S has a range of 373 miles and Tesla Model 3 ranges 322 miles.

78% of automobile executives believe that fuel cell vehicles will be the breakthrough for electric mobility.

Challenges with Fuel Cell Vehicles

• The average price of entry-level fuel cell vehicles is around $60, 000 which is about $20,000 more than an entry-level electric vehicle. This is due to the fact that production size is tiny, with only a few thousand made every year.
• There is a lack of adequate infrastructure, including hydrogen stations. There are about 44 hydrogen stations in the US alone, while there are over 1,600 electric charging stations. However, automakers are slowly solving these problems.

If and when fuel cell vehicles scale up, Tesla will have to increase the range of its cars, and decrease their recharging time and price.

However, battery electric vehicles are limited; increasing the range means increasing the battery size, which yields more weight to the car which has consequences on its power capacity and autonomy.

As more hydrogen stations are put into place, there will be more hydrogen cars bought which will in turn make them more affordable and a viable alternative to battery-powered electric cars.