The hydrogen-powered vehicles utilize the hydrogen gas to power an electric motor. The hydrogen cars are electric vehicles (EV). The hydrogen gas only produces water and heat as byproducts. Hydrogen is the most basic element and among the most abundant and exist as compound rather than a single element. Hydrogen is obtained from water through the electrolysis process. The electrolysis process involves the passing of an electric current through water separating the hydrogen and the oxygen atoms. The energy used in the electrolysis process is from electricity from either renewable or petroleum-based fuels. Alternatively, hydrogen can be obtained through the steam-methane reforming where hydrogen is obtained from methane (Stecher, 2017).
The hydrogen-powered vehicle has been selected in this research as it among the emerging electric vehicle that will be used in the mitigation of the effects of climate change. Hydrogen being abundant will make the vehicle a cheaper alternative means of transport in the near future. The vehicles have been envisioned in the 1970 John Bockris ideology of the hydrogen economy (Maroli, Khandual, Mahajani, " Mahadevan, 2015). Bockris postulated that in future all vehicles would be hydrogen powered. The fuel cell technology has been significantly embraced by the vehicle manufacturers making this a technology of interest in research.
The advantage of the Hydrogen powered vehicles
Hydrogen is a renewable source of energy that occurs in a significant amount on the earth’s surface. The hydrogen atom is among the most abundant atoms on Earth’s surface. Despite the massive resources used to harness the energy from hydrogen; the energy from this atom is infinite (Maroli, Khandual, Mahajani, " Mahadevan, 2015). The supply of hydrogen is inexhaustible hence it can be used without depletion.
Hydrogen is a clean source of energy
The combustion of hydrogen to produce energy as a fuel will produce safe byproducts, i.e., water and heat which have no side effects. Hydrogen has further been utilized as a source of drinking water by Aeronautical companies (Dincer, 2008). Once hydrogen has been utilized in the propulsion of rockets, it is converted into drinking water for the astronauts.
Hydrogen is non-toxic
Hydrogen and its combustion by-products are not harmful to the human health. It is more preferred than other renewable sources of energy such as nuclear and natural gas. Hydrogen is utilized as an alternative to reduce emissions (Dincer, 2008).
The hydrogen energy is obtained efficiently
Hydrogen is an efficient source of energy since the massive amounts of energy can be obtained from hydrogen without misuse4 of resources. The generation system has the ability to convey all the energy that is generated. An automobile using hydrogen will travel further than an automobile on a similar amount of gasoline.
Used to power spaceships
The efficiency and power that is associated with the hydrogen fuel lead to the production of a lot of thrusts that can be used to propel spaceships into exploration missions (Maroli, Khandual, Mahajani, " Mahadevan, 2015). The fuels are also safe to perform this kind of task. The hydrogen fuel is three times more potent than gasoline and other petroleum-based fuels. This efficiency reduces the amount of fuel used in the propulsion of the ship.
Disadvantages of the hydrogen fuel
Despite the fact that the hydrogen technology is beneficial especially as clean, cheap energy it has some downsides.
Hydrogen fuel cells are expensive
The electrolysis and steam reforming processes of recovering hydrogen gas from water are extremely expensive (Stecher, 2017). This reason has locked out most countries from adopting the technology. The technology is explicitly used in the powering of the hybrid cars. There is need to reduce the power for harnessing energy from hydrogen.
Storage complications
Hydrogen has low density compared to gasoline hence so be liquefied through compression it requires lower temperatures as compared to gasoline (Dincer, 2008). This property has made it a requirement that hydrogen be stored and transported under high pressure hence making the complete use of hydrogen less feasible.
Hydrogen is not the safest source of energy
Hydrogen is volatile like gasoline hence it is highly flammable making it potentially dangerous (Dincer, 2008). The hydrogen is odorless hence its leakages cannot be easily detected hence can easily cause catastrophic fires.
Hydrogen is difficult to transportation
Hydrogen being less dense makes it difficult to transport it (Maroli, Khandual, Mahajani, " Mahadevan, 2015). The transportation of large quantities of hydrogen is difficult hence it is transported in small batches.
Hydrogen is not sustainable.
Hydrogen occurs in plenty but the cost harnessing it is very high limiting its extensive utilization (Stecher, 2017). Additionally, there is no robust framework for integrating hydrogen technology into the current fuel market. There are various changes that would be required to replace the fossil fuels with hydrogen. Fossil fuels are still required for the separation of oxygen from oxygen in the water.
Conclusion
The internal combustion engine has been a step forward in transport, but this technology has been associated with a lot of adverse effects on the environment. The hydrogen-powered vehicle has been identified as a cleaner alternative to the internal combustions engine. The potential of the hydrogen fuel cell revolutionizing the transport has made it subject to many researches.
References
Dincer, I. (2008). Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies for Sustainable Future. Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 1-14.
Maroli, A., Khandual, K. A., Mahajani, A., " Mahadevan, L. (2015). Hydrogen Powered Vehicles- An Overview. IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 44-50.
Stecher, N. (2017, October 25). Are Hydrogen Cars the Next Big Thing … Again?
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