- There was a time when hydrogen was presented as the future
of fuel for our cars. These vehicles promised things
like longer driving distances faster refueling and eco-friendly energy. George W. Bush, remember him, liked hydrogen fuel cells so much that he offered $1.3 billion in funding to get these cars on the road. This all sounds fantastic. So why aren't we all
scooting around on our own hydrogen horseless carriages? The technology had plenty
of pretty dope features that appeal to consumers, but nobody really seems to
talk about these cars anymore. Why did the hydrogen
vehicle lose its traction after all the hype that
was surrounding it? Is it actually better for the
environment than gasoline? And who or what killed the hydrogen car? (upbeat music) Big thanks to Kove for
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to get your discount today. Now let's get back to Wheelhouse. Seriously, these things are sick. In 1966, we got things
like the Porsche 911 S the Lamborghini Mira and the Pontiac GTO, but what never made it into
the spotlight that year was the world's first
hydrogen fuel cell car. Hydrogen vehicles have been
around for quite some time, but have recently been advertised as the future for passenger vehicles and civilian transportation. Hydrogen fuel cells run off
of pressurized hydrogen, that has a refill time equivalent
to a gas filled vehicle and brags about things like zero emissions with literal water coming
out of the exhaust. This sounds great, especially
compared to electric vehicles which can sometimes take run
an hour to charge at a station. Hydrogen seems great in
theory so what happened? Well, there are a few reasons why hydrogen cars lost
traction and publicity, it all boils down to five factors, price, convenience, performance, the environment, and competition Buying a car's One of the
biggest financial investments someone can make next to a house. And the biggest determining factor when it comes to buying a
vehicle is inevitably the price. There are three hydrogen
fuel cell vehicles available on the market right now. The Toyota Mirai the Hyundai
Nexo and the Honda Clarity. The 2021 Toyota Mirai is
the cheapest of the bunch starting at $50,000. But if you play your cards right with the right incentives and financing you can pick a brand new one for just shy of 18 grand,
pretty big bargain. The sticker price seems
to be a really good deal but how much does it cost to refuel? The average price for
hydrogen fuel is about $16.50 per kilogram yes, kilogram. Hydrogen is measured by weight, much different to how
gasoline is measured, which is by volume. Each hydrogen fuel cell
vehicle holds about five to six kilograms of hydrogen, traveling up to 400 miles on one fill up. So even though six kilograms of hydrogen can make a car move up to 400 miles, the cost of a tank is over
$80, which is pretty pricey considering the more
cost-effective alternatives, like hybrids, but we'll
get to that in a second. There are only 45 hydrogen
refueling stations in the United States. And similar to how buyers
are afraid of hydrogen because of the price tag, companies are afraid of
hydrogen for the same reason. The cost to construct
just one refueling station can amount to around $2
million, which is way more than your average gas station
or electric charging station. To make matters worse most
stations just have one pump. With such a small customer base, it's hard for companies to
commit such large sums of money towards hydrogen stations with no promise of return
on investment. Makes sense. There is some good news
though for hydrogen car owners and that comes through
a little ray of sunshine called manufacturer fuel incentives. Companies like Toyota
understand that hydrogen, for the time being, is pretty expensive and hope to Lure in
customers by offering buyers $15,000 credit towards fuel costs. I think that's sick as hell,
thank you Toyota, very much. This fuel credit is a nice benefit to anyone buying a hydrogen
car, but the catch is that you need to spend that $15,000 on fuel within the first
three years of owning a car. Once that runs out customers have to pay
the high hydrogen prices, with a very limited selection
of refueling stations. There is one more glimmer of hope though for hydrogen car believers. California government subsidies. These subsidies offer millions of dollars towards the construction of
hydrogen fueling stations, and seek to have over a hundred
stations in place by 2025. This is still significantly less than the tens of thousands of gas stations and EV charging stations
that scatter the US. So only time will tell
if hydrogen stations become a prevalent form of refilling. But it's a step in the right direction. For now with the average
fuel tank North of $80 and the exorbitant construction costs for refilling stations, things aren't looking very
promising for hydrogen cars. The hydrogen fuel cell market relies on subsidies and incentives to
stay afloat and keep costs down. But even with help from the
government and manufacturers consumers just aren't
interested in hydrogen cars as much as gas or electric. Why is this? Well, let's talk about
convenience or the lack thereof. We talked earlier about how there are only 45 hydrogen refueling stations in the US, mostly in California. For some perspective, there are 16 red lobster
seafood restaurants for every one hydrogen
refueling station in America. That's a 16 to one
crustacean, station ratio. With only 45 stations across the US, hydrogen car buyers are forced
to conduct their daily lives within the vicinity of these stations. So if you live outside of some
large cities in California you might have some
trouble driving anywhere. The painful lack of convenience from the shy number of stations is very dissuading to consumers. But the good news is you can leave LA and go on that boy's trip to Vegas. But if you've taken your hydrogen car, you might end up stranded there. I guess, with a hydrogen vehicle, whatever happens in Vegas,
literally stays in Vegas. Infrastructure offers convenience and without the adequate infrastructure hydrogen cars are a huge hassle. So to visit my parents up in Atascadero what I would have to do,
I've thought about this, I would have to leave LA stop in Santa Barbara to
top off, get to my parents and then limit my driving
at all while I'm up there. And then refill as I'm
coming back down this Santa Barbara which would
be, it'd be kind of dicey. I would not feel great about that. So does the hydrogen car offer anything that can make up for the
severe lack of convenience? Let's talk about what we really care about here at Donut all right? Performance. Sure hydrogen
cars are expensive and a pain to refuel. But if they're faster
and more fun to drive then maybe they might be
worthy of consideration right? Well, maybe, but that doesn't matter because most commercial vehicles are far from performance vehicles. The 2021 Toyota Mirai goes from zero to 60 in 9.1 seconds and reaches
a blazing top speed of a hundred six miles per hour. It's not awful, but compare
this to something like the Tesla model three which
goes zero to 60 in 3.1 seconds. It's a bit of a different story. So is there a hydrogen
car that can compete with established performance cars? The answer is yes. Take a look at the hydrogen
powered Hyperion XP-1 which boasts a range of a thousand miles, a thousand horsepower and claims to go from
zero to 60 in 2.2 seconds reaching a top speed of 220, and even better the car looks like the illegitimate child of a
Tron bike and a Bugatti Chiron. This thing is super
impressive and I want one. So where could I buy one? Well, unfortunately for customers, the car it's not available
for purchase yet. And when it is, it's safe to say that the price will be extremely high. You're definitely not gonna
wanna hit the dragstrip in your Toyota Mirai anytime soon, but clearly hydrogen technology is capable of creating speed, it's just much more expensive and requires more fuel cell
stacks in order to reach speeds, comparable to a regular sports car. Hydrogen cars are marketed as green easy, energy efficient vehicles,
much like Toyota Prius. This makes sense after all
they are hydrogen powered. So unfortunately, most manufacturers aren't building these
things to be speed demons. But who knows no car's truly off limits for a dedicated tuner. So maybe we'll see a few Mirais
at the strip sometime soon. If companies are gonna market
hydrogen cars as green, You would assume they're
great for the environment but I'm not so sure as green
as people say they are. Why is this? Hydrogen cars are heralded
as zero emission angels spitting out water rather than pollutants. How does the car produce only water? Look, I spent a lot of time in college playing Rocket League and watching movies. So I don't feel very
qualified to explain this. Here's Jerry (upbeat music) - Compressed hydrogen runs down a pipe to a positive terminal in the fuel cell. Then oxygen from the air
runs down a second pipe to the negative terminal. The positive terminal, it's
made up of platinum, which acts as a catalyst that helps speed
up the chemical reaction. When hydrogen atoms reached the catalyst they split up into hydrogen ions which are protons and electrons. And hydrogen ions they
are just hydrogen atoms without their electrons. Since hydrogen only has one
proton and one electron, a hydrogen ion is literally just a proton. The positively charged protons are attracted to the negative
terminal and peel off running through the electrolyte. Only protons have the ability to pass through the electrolyte since it's a special polymer. The free electrons now
free of their protons, they flow through the outer
circuit towards the motor. As they do so they
power the electric motor which drives the car's wheels eventually arriving at
the negative terminal. And at that negative terminal,
the protons and electrons recombine with oxygen from the air in a chemical reaction creating H2O or what I like to call water. This is the water that comes
right out of the exhaust. You can drink that water if
you wanted, but I wouldn't. - So it's safe to assume that these cars are good
for the environment, right? I mean, all they use is hydrogen for fuel and it's shooting out water. So are hydrogen cars actually
better for the environment than gas cars? Well, let's look at how
hydrogen is produced. Hydrogen does not exist in a pure state and must be separated from other molecules in a process called electrolysis. This process uses a lot of power. In order for a hydrogen fuel cell to work, it uses electricity to create hydrogen at the production plant,
and then turns that hydrogen back into electricity to
power the vehicle's motors. This is called the
energy vector transition. Let's take a hundred Watts of energy. To create hydrogen we must pass it through water via electrolysis. This is only 75% energy efficient. Now the hydrogen must
be compressed, chilled and transported to the station. Once it's pumped into the car, it must be turned back into electricity. This is only 60% efficient. The energy then must power the motor but this is only 95% efficient, because it gives off energy such as heat. Put this all together, and
only 38 of our 100 Watts are actually used to run the car. So fuel cells are only 38% efficient. That's not great, but it could be worse. How does it compare to
gas and electric cars? Combustion engines are
notoriously inefficient, letting off enough heat that leaves them with only
about 25 to 35% efficient. So hydrogen is decently better
than gasoline powered cars. But what about electric vehicles? Since electric vehicles use
the electricity directly without having to
convert it into anything, they make about 80% efficiency. This is twice as efficient
as a fuel cell vehicle making hydrogen cars inefficient when compared to their electric cousins. So what does this mean
for our environment? Well, hydrogen cars are about half as efficient as an electric vehicle meaning they required twice
as much energy to power. This energy is taken from
things like fossil fuels, nuclear power plants and windmills. No car is completely green, but hydrogen is a
surprisingly worse alternative than EV vehicles, but still more efficient than a gas powered cars,
it's a weird middle ground. If hydrogen is to succeed it
needs a lot more research, money and government
legislation thrown at it. And it will take years to
produce adequate infrastructure for these vehicles. If all this happens, hydrogen cars may have a chance at securing a spot in the automotive industry, but for now something else
is stealing all hydrogens hype and funding, reducing the
chances at a hydrogen future. What is this? Well, I actually already told you. If anything can be blamed for the death of the
hydrogen vehicle it's the EV. Companies like Tesla came onto
the scene at the same time hydrogen fuel cells had some interest, but with the success
of the electric vehicle came disinterest in hydrogen. The market lean towards electric cars and lithium battery technology
began to advance quickly beyond hydrogen vehicles. EVs took the spotlight and
tons of money and research went into developing and
perfecting lithium batteries. Hydrogen on the other
hand was left in the dust. It's kinda like when
the Dreamcast came out and it was super mind blowing
with its crazy graphics, but then the PS two, and X-Box
came out like a year later with even better graphics. There simply just wasn't enough room for hydrogen fuel cells to succeed. Hydrogen cars tried to fix
a problem that to be honest, didn't really need to be solved. And it didn't even succeed
at fixing the problem in the first place. Hydrogen cars can run exceptionally long distance on hydrogen. But the factors like price, performance and convenience put the nail in the coffin for hydrogen fuel cell cars. Now you might be thinking, hey the technology is super impressive. So if it's not gonna work
for commercial vehicles where can we apply it? Well, surprisingly enough, hydrogen fuel cells are being used for many other things
today outside of cars. Many warehouses, such as Amazon use hydrogen powered forklifts to
move their inventory around. Very smart when you're indoors. Companies are looking
to make heaters buses and even power sources for cities and hydrogen presents
itself as a great option for auxiliary power in rural areas. NASA uses hydrogen fuel
cells on their space shuttles as a source of electricity,
and many manufacturers are looking to create
hydrogen powered semi-trucks. There is a use for it, it's just that the car space
already found a good solution. Hydrogen cars were
supposed to be the future but they weren't, and it makes sense why. Maybe one day despite
all the current barriers some technological breakthrough will occur and hydrogen cars will rule the road. But for now though, hydrogen cars remain an
expensive dumpster fire with a somewhat bleak future and gas and electric cars will continue to steal the hearts of consumers. Just make that Marai do zero
to 60 in like three seconds, and we're good. - Hey guys what's up? I got some big news and it's right here on my head. Introducing the first
official Donut beanie only available at donutmedia.com. It comes in two awesome colors. Vibrant orange, for those who
wanna stand out during the day and Navy blue, for those who
wanna blend in at the night. And the best thing about a
beanie, no matter who you are it can help highlight your personality. Whether you're intimidating at first, but once we get to know you,
you're a really nice person. Or if you're someone
who always has that band that your friends never
heard of, and you're shocked and you make them listen
to them right away. Just like sort of an old
poetic soul kind of type. An actor slash writer slash
director slash musician. I own an acoustic guitar. The Donut beanie is the
perfect hat for any occasion or any type of person gets
yours @donutmedia.com today. - Hey, thanks for watching Wheelhouse. Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me. I think that there's a future for hydrogen just not necessarily in
passenger cars, but that's okay. If you saw that other
handsome guy in this video and you wanna check out
more of Jeremiah's stuff I'll leave a bumper to bumper right here. We mentioned the Prius a little bit, and hey if you're feeling nostalgic, there's a up to speed on Prius right here. Follow Donut on all
social media @donutmedia. Follow me @nolanjsykes be kind, take care of each other. See you later.
"Hydrogen" cars are EVs as series hybrids. Adding extra steps never makes something more efficient or dependable.
I think hydrogen will find a niche. Possibly in trucking. I’ve also heard it could be used to make steel (more environmentally friendly than coal or gas). Really hydrogen is just converted electrical energy. It’s a battery with a bad conversion rate but is able to be more quickly transferred. Also needing platinum seems problematic. Developing these alternative technologies is important though. Batteries just beat them to the punch for cars.
In my opinion, hydrogen failed because no one built an infrastructure for it. Tesla built one for their cars and it became successful.
Hydrogen is dead and will remain dead unless someone puts huge money behind it.
Another hydrogene film that conveniently omits the fact that it is a fossil fuel.
People who believe in the H2 myth are the same people who unironically watched the History channel when they went reality TV.
Hydrogen could've won easily IMO if the energy companies actually built the infrastructure. Instead they wasted a couple decades trying to dupe governments into doing it for them.
I remember George Bush and Shell and some others pimping hydrogen nearly 20 years ago and I was hyped and ready to buy a hydrogen car. I thought the technology was cool 'cause hydrogen fuel cells powered the Apollo spacecraft on their way to the Moon! And I liked the idea of water vapor being the only "exhaust". So I kept an eye out for hydrogen vehicles hoping I could purchase one for my next car.
Meanwhile I was totally ignorant to how energy intensive it was to actually get and use hydrogen. I was taught in school it was the most abundant element in the universe, which sounds great, but didn't realize practically none exists on its own, it's usually stuck to something else like oxygen in water. So we'll have to separate it. That requires lots of energy. And then we gotta store it, didn't know how difficult that could be since hydrogen can easily leak out of typical storage tanks. And we've got to haul it to the filling stations, that requires more energy. Very inefficient when you can just charge a battery with sunlight.
But then you can't expect a typical person to know all this so if the energy companies simply built the infrastructure and the car companies simply started selling hydrogen cars as the next big thing we'd have bought them in droves. Some slick advertising talking about how clean hydrogen cars are (at least compared to ICE vehicles) and we would've spent a few decades driving 'em before maybe moving on to EVs.