Hydrogen car: what is it and how does it work?

As with the electric car, the hydrogen engine is another great bet to change the way we move, in a cleaner and less polluted environment. An emerging technology that will have a lot to say in the future.

Within the different uses of hydrogen, the one that uses this gas as fuel is one of the best known. In fact, this gas has been used for many years as fuel when moving rockets or spacecraft. Precisely, derived from this use, the idea arises of harnessing hydrogen energy in our vehicles, through the so-called hydrogen battery. A promising process, although it is still in its early stages of development.

what is hydrogen

Before discussing hydrogen vehicles, it is worth knowing more about the fuel they use. Hydrogen is a chemical element, gaseous in nature and considered as a secondary energy source. This means that finding hydrogen naturally and autonomously is not the usual thing, but it is necessary to use a primary source to extract it. The good news is that the main source of hydrogen for fuel, or for any other use, is water. 

In all this process, it is necessary to use some energy, since the separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen requires an industrial process. The advantage is that these processes are becoming more efficient and the way to obtain hydrogen through the use of algae or bacteria, which expel this gas during their photosynthesis processes, is even being studied. Something that would eliminate the waste of energy used in the extraction process. In any case, today hydrogen is already a sustainable energy source, both because of its origin and because of the energy used in its extraction.

The hydrogen cell

Once we have the fuel, it is time to delve into the element that will be common in the vehicles of the future. We are talking about the hydrogen cell or battery, responsible for supplying the energy that the electric car will need to move.

Without going into depth about the process used, the hydrogen fuel cell would be the equivalent of the combustion engine in a conventional heat engine. Precisely in this space, within that battery, is where the combustion of hydrogen occurs. To do this, this element is mixed with filtered and compressed oxygen. The good news is that oxygen is obtained directly from the environment, so the vehicle only needs the tank for hydrogen.

In this combustion process, electricity is obtained, which is what is transmitted to the car’s propulsion system. Water vapor is obtained as waste from the process, so the vehicle does not generate polluting emissions. This does not mean that the car with a hydrogen fuel cell is totally ecological, given that both the process of obtaining hydrogen and the manufacturing itself do generate some emissions and pollution. But when it comes to filming, it is pure zero emissions. In addition, the total sum of the hydrogen energy compared to that spent in obtaining it and in the manufacture of the vehicle is also positive, as we have been commenting.

The supply problem

Once the operation of hydrogen as a fuel is known, we are faced with the main problem in the advancement of this type of vehicle. A problem shared with the electric car but that is even more serious in this type of car. We are talking about the presence of hydroelectric plants in Spain, or, rather, the absence of them.

And it is that at the time of writing this article, there are barely 3 of these operational hydrogen stations in all of Spain, with some of them also working at half the optimum pressure for efficient operation. So it is clear that the commitment to the hydrogen car has little future, today. 

However, the supply process and the technology that hydrogen plants have are not particularly complex. It is true that specific and more complex security measures are required, as well as larger deposits, so that an adequate number of cars can be refueled. But apart from this, the approach of these refueling does not change too much compared to that of a normal vehicle, neither due to time nor complexity.

Fortunately, the hydrogen engine can travel up to 600 kilometers with a single tank, so the autonomy problem that electric cars have will not be suffered by this type of vehicle. However, it is important to know that this autonomy is reduced if the accessories are used, even if the best air conditioners or the most efficient management systems are installed in the vehicle’s electrical system. Something common also in combustion cars, which consume more the more accessories we use in the vehicle.

In any case, except for the engine issue, hydrogen fuel cell cars often use the same chassis, the same type of tire, the same interiors and the same designs as their conventional brothers. Therefore, it will be easy in the future to optimize these hydrogen vehicles to further improve consumption and autonomy.

a hopeful future

Despite the dark present that we have today, otherwise normal for an emerging technology and not exactly cheap, the truth is that the future is much more hopeful for the hydrogen car. And it is the government that wants to set itself up as a catalyst for this approach.

To do this, an investment of some 8,900 million euros has been planned, destined for different plans with which to solve some of the problems that we have mentioned. In the most important proposal for future users of hydrogen cars, there is the commitment to establish a network of public hydrogen stations, in which the users of these vehicles could refuel without problems.

This plan establishes the construction of some 100 to 150 of these hydrogen-based filling stations by the year 2030, between which there should be no more than 250 kilometers apart. The objective of the plan is to create a basic network so that users of this type of vehicle can refuel. Something that is considered as a basis to guarantee the national mobility of these vehicles, thus taking advantage of their autonomy.

Outside this part of the plan, the standard also provides for investments for the purchase of hydrogen fuel cell buses, as well as their application in the world of railways. A comprehensive approach that, if fulfilled, will serve to start changing mobility towards a slightly greener world.