H2 is much safer than gasoline.

We had to build an infrastructure for gasoline too.

This is a much better thing.

By the way, it does NOT have to be EV OR H2.

We should develop and keep ALL CLEAN RENEWABLE alternatives.

How is hydrogen for vehicles produced?

But I always thought that hydrogen gas does not exist in the wild - all hydrogen atoms have been oxidized or otherwise chemically merged into other compounds (e.g. H2S - "rotten egg" gas).

What is the energy required to harvest pure H2 gas or liquid, and how much of that energy input is lost in the conversion to motive force (energy used) in this type of vehicle?

There is no perpetual motion machine, despite any amount of wishful thinking about rainbows and unicorns.

Massive amounts of cheap, reliable power are required to produce pure hydrogen.

There are a number of ways hydrogen fuel is produced. As Maurice notes they all take energy. As noted in the accompanying link unless that energy is produced by renewable energy hydrogen is not considered a renewable fuel.

Web Link

H2 can be made in many ways.

Bags with catalyst in it heated by sun.

Bags with algae in it heated by sun.

Water heated with solar panel juice with copper / titanium electrode.

Web Link

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google it here:
Web Link

Hydrogen is not a fuel in the same sense that coal or petroleum are fuel, since those can be found and burned right away. Hydrogen is more of an energy storage and transfer medium, similar to a battery. Hydrogen can be extracted from natural gas with a steam reforming process, or cracked from water. The former uses much less energy than the latter. If you use biogas for the methane and renewable energy to heat the steam, then this is a sustainable process.

The efficiency of a fuel cell installation can be up to 90% in some applications, but those used in cars are typically about 50% efficient.

There is some heat that needs to be removed as well as the water that is produced. Perhaps we should require these cars to collect their tailpipe water so it can be used for landscaping!

Hey Donald,

I see a day when we can just fill the tank with water.

better yet,

when we just run on "harvested energy."

The brits have now got a Hydrogen filling station
powered by solar.

Take a look:

Web Link

Hyundai is marketing a car in Australia that will have it's own
solar powered refueler.

Web Link

Produces Hydrogen from solar.

Web Link

I like living in the Park Forest...

The Mercedes-Benz F-CELL is available for lease in California. I understand that there are also pre-owned cars available already.

Regarding the comment about H2 not being a 'renewable' fuel. I see the writer's point, but by that same criteria, battery electrics that are not powered by 100% renewable electricity are not running on renewable fuel either.

Only bio-fuels meet the 'renewable' criteria for internal combustion engine vehicles.

Virginia Tech researchers have developed another method of using corn stover (the parts left in the field) to make HYDROGEN.

Better, cheaper, faster, smaller, etc.

Web Link

Irvin:

ding ding ding!!! Absolutely right yet still everyone pushes EV as "renewable." It's NOT. Unless ALL of the power comes from power from renewable sources. In California, at best, 45% comes from "renewable" resources. Yet all these folks are pushing EV. Can you say "scientific illiterates?" Yes, EV reduces carbon emissions because most of this state's non-renewable power comes from natural gas. But, it is hardly "renewable" at this point.

Currently, most hydrogen in the United States is made from natural gas and, as such, has a carbon footprint, but it's less than half of gasoline's footprint. Web Link

California requires that at least 33% of the hydrogen being sold at stations must come from renewable sources (splitting water using wind or solar, extracting from biomass like agricultural waste or sewage). Web Link