Bruce Dunn is a Professor of Materials Science at UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Follow him around UCLA’s campus as he discusses 3-dimensional batteries and demonstrates fuel cells powered by sugar! Find out more at www.ucla.edu
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Question by gregory_s19: What will it take to get fuel-cell vehicles on the road nationwide?
Hydrogen-fueled vehicles (fuel cell cars) cause no geenhouse gases. And hydrogen will never be exhausted. So what are we waiting for?
Best answer:
Answer by dana1981
Lots of things.
First, we need an environmentally friendly and cheap source of hydrogen. Your claims that they cause no greenhouse gases is incorrect, because the hydrogen has to come from somewhere. The only reasonably efficient method we have of getting hydrogen right now is from natural gas, and the process emits as much CO2 as burning gasoline.
Theoretically you can get hydrogen from water, but you have to break the atomic bonds, which requires a ton of energy. At the moment it takes a lot more energy than you’re going to get out by burning the hydrogen.
Secondly, even if we had a good source of hydrogen, we have no infrastructure to transport it and store it. You have to have an easy way to refuel the hydrogen fuel cells. Building such infrastructure will cost billions of dollas, and who’s going to pay for that?
Especially since electric cars are becoming advanced, are more environmentally friendly, and the infrastructure (power grid) is already in place.
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