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Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive
As has been pointed out in other posts, alternatives to petroleum-powered vehicles will become more available when they become as cheap and as reliable as petroleum-powered vehicles. That appears to be far in the future however.
Another technology that shows great promise is hydrogen power. A hydrogen-powered vehicle is essentially an EV but without the huge and expensive (to produce and to own) batteries. Instead the hydrogen is pumped into a fuel cell, and a reaction takes place that produces electricity to run the car. They have about the same range as battery-powered EVs and the running gear is pretty much the same. The difference is that you can fuel up a hydrogen-powered car in about four minutes vs. "X" length of time to charge a battery.
This technology already exists, albeit in infancy. Toyota makes a hydrogen-powered car (the Toyota Mirai) and a couple of other car manufacturers make one too. I don't think the infrastructure exists here yet, but it is available in a limited manner in California where you can fuel up with hydrogen at the some of the same stations that sell gasoline, and hydrogen tanker trucks are available to deliver it. I have no idea of the cost (probably a whole lot more at this stage than either petroleum - or battery - powered vehicles), but that should come down as the technology advances and infrastructure is adapted.
Best of all, absolutely emission-free.
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Hydrogen is low density. It requires a lot of it for any fuel applications. This means high pressures.
It is also very leaky. Put hydrogen in ANYTHING and if you wait long enough, it is all gone. The molecules are small and literally just work their way out of containment. It will diffuse into everything it contacts. Look up hydrogen embrittlement if you want a deep dive into what it can do to metals.
There is no "source" of hydrogen that doesn't require more energy to obtain than the hydrogen can create. A 100% efficient fuel cell(impossible) is still an energy loss.
This makes Hydrogen simply a storage medium of energy. It's not a very good one at that.