The world really needs emissions-free transportation, and both electric and hydrogen vehicles are set to play important roles in reaching that goal.
The race to find alternative clean energy has really hotted up in recent times. Two serious contenders have emerged, both green, but both not without fault.
Electric vehicles have been in the works for some years now, but more recently, a new or maybe old player has arrived. Hydrogen energy is making a surprising comeback, after years in the green fuel wilderness, some key developments and some key investment is turning its fortunes around.
There is little doubt both are viable options in a world where we desperately need emissions-free transportation. At present, neither offer that just yet, but in time, both electric and hydrogen vehicles are set to play important roles in reaching that goal.
Electric vehicles seem to be improving all the time. Range is getting better, designs are improving, and prices are dropping.
The most crucial part is that the infrastructure is rapidly improving too, with charging stations getting built all over the world.
As fast as charging stations are going up, it isn’t quite fast enough if manufacturers are to meet their pledge to only make electric vehicles by 2035.
That seems like a pie-in-the-sky kind of vision, as opposed to Hydrogen where all the bones are already in place, thanks to the vast fossil fuel industry. Storage is still a challenge, but if we figured out how to do it with ridiculously evaporative and highly combustible gasoline, Hydrogen won’t be too much of a leap.
The single most underrated electric mobility is the humble e-bike. It is easily the cheapest and most efficient way to get around, with only one obvious drawback; they just don’t do hills.
E-bikes and small electric motorcycles are improving all the time and once they can figure out a way to improve torque delivery everyone should own one.
At the other end of the spectrum, hydrogen makes a lot more sense. Heavy industries like construction, shipping, and aviation all already have hydrogen prototypes.
With most of these vehicles still in the testing phase, it is hard to make too many bold claims, but it certainly seems as though they are all making nice progress.
It comes as no surprise that battery technology is improving as there has been a huge amount of investment into the technology over the past decade.
What is surprising is the alternative battery options. As we see new solid state batteries come into play, the overall size of battery packs will shrink in size.
No matter how much more range we get in the future, range is still a factor at present. It is a difficult feeling to put into words, something you need to experience to fully understand.
It is arguably the key driving force behind hydrogen's popularity as an alternative, as it offers significantly improved range in FCEVs and even better range in ICE vehicles converted to run on hydrogen.
As we have already seen with the likes of Tesla and their high performance vehicles, the performance potential for electric vehicles is immense.
Able to rocket almost silently from 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds was hypercar territory just a few short years ago, now you can do it in a family sedan… well, as long as that family sedan is a Model S.
Not everyone appreciates the performance of an electric vehicle though. It is devoid of any of the traditional theatrics associated with high performance vehicles. Unlike what some will say, electric vehicles do make a noise, it just isn’t a very nice kind of noise.
Toyota and Yamaha recently collaborated to produce a new age V8 ICE that can run on hydrogen, something that will give future tuners some hope. It underlines the need to think long and hard about how to go about converting existing ICE vehicles to run on hydrogen. Simply discarding ICE technology is not an option.
With a vast electric grid run on renewable resources, the electric dream can be a reality. It is an elegant kind of solution to the problem.
Electric vehicles have less moving parts and theoretically will eventually cost less once a solution is found to the growing battery dilemma.
No matter which way you look at it, electric vehicles make more sense for personal transportation, especially e-bikes/scooters/motorcycles. Unfortunately, it will take time to figure out how to improve batteries, and put a suitable recycling solution forward.
For now, hydrogen offers a ready-made solution that can not only work as a stop-gap, but also serve us long term in heavy industries and specialty classic vehicles that we want to preserve in a more sustainable manner.
Luke Zietsman is an all out automotive enthusiast based in The Philippines. If it has two or four wheels he has either owned it, researched about it or dreamed about it.
