I'm a researcher studying how people choose their cars

if the government put as much money into electric charging stations as they have/plan to/want to with hydrogen, that would put an end to the nonsense

 

We’ve seen a lot of investment in electric charging stations.

I think that if you compare all-electric to hydrogen, all-electric has so many more advantages: Mainly, if you charge in your garage, you never need to go to a gas station, ever. And you’re never going to get truly stranded, because there’s electricity everywhere, as long as you have your charge cable. Yes, you could get stuck waiting for a charge, but you can find electricity almost anywhere. Hydrogen filling stations, on the other hand, are very uncommon.

It seemed that Toyota wanted to charge a lot of money for the privilege of being a hydrogen early adopter.

I never understood the environmental aspect: I’ve heard that hydrogen is produced as a result or by-product of fracking, and they is why some environmentalists are opposed to the approach. I don’t personally understand why widespread hydrogen production would look like. Electric cars aren’t perfect because producing electricity in most of the country produces a lot of greenhouse gases. I don’t know what the environmental costs of hydrogen production would be.

 

I don’t know about the fracking part but all you need to make Hydrogen is a natural gas supply and electricity.

 

That’s like saying I can solve all the water problems in the world; all I need is electricity to create water.

I’m not convinced that a hydrogen car is better than an electric car because an electric car needs electricity while a hydrogen car needs... electricity.

So if the plentiful hydrogen is available because fracking has created a glut of natural gas, then I’m inclined to believe that HCV’s are a byproduct of fracking, which is bad for the environment. But I’m not well enough informed to know that yet.

 

Outside of your study area but:

Found a Honda natural gas vehicle. It didn't look bad. Went to look up public natural gas refueling stations in my state, found out that I would have to install a Phill station at my house and never drive more than half a tank away from home. Even the dealer who sold it couldn't refuel it. Bought a Prius instead, now I can go anywhere I want.

I should mention, although it burns natural gas, I don't believe it is a fuel cell set up, I think it just burns it. Didn't even think about Hydrogen because I'd have to set up a tank in my back yard and talk to the local welding shop about getting deliveries.

 

i have not seen a scientific explanation for why hydrogen would be more efficient than electric. toyota says you can make it from cow poop. that's their best effort.

 

I suppose it’s like electric cars: No carbon footprint if charged using solar or hydro-generated electricity, but high footprint of the electricity is coal-generated. (Although I don’t know what resources are used to create the solar panels).

My very limited understanding is that the main way used to make hydrogen is to heat methane (CH4) until it separates into hydrogen and CO2. So it would seem that it produces greenhouse gases, but I don’t know if this is lower emission than burning gas in your car... I guess it is?