Hydrogen cars are here to leave electric cars behind – as you may recall we have discussed on other occasions. However, not all brands are willing to invest millions of dollars in the development of new engines. We want to review the only ones from which, for now, you can expect to see models that integrate this new advance and leave electrification aside.
Hydrogen cars, a proposal that seems to be in the future, but has decades behind it
Utilization of hydrogen as a fuel in the vehicles is not a novel idea, as it has been proposed for many years. Concept was raised in 1970s when the world was facing the crisis of scarcity of oil and automotive industry came up as a solution.
Hydrogen was quite an appealing prospect because it could be produced locally and thus could lower our country’s addiction to imported oil. The automotive industry leaders, for example, BMW and Mazda, started to work on hydrogen car engines of the 90s.
Make a prediction for the upcoming sentence. Nevertheless, the first hydrogen powered cars were faced with disadvantages such as a higher purchase cost, lack of the necessary infrastructure to refuel, and the issue of storing hydrogen that can produce fires.
In spite of the barriers, however, there was no halt to the research and development activity through local initiatives, funds from both the government and car manufacturers.
A look at the hydrogen cars currently on the road in the U.S.
There are some notable automakers producing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles today. This includes:
- Audi had a limited release of the h-tron quattro concept SUV in 2020. This luxury hydrogen vehicle touted over 370 miles of range.
- BMW built a limited run of the i-Hydrogen NEXT X5 SUV in 2022 to demonstrate its hydrogen fuel cell technology.
- Honda began leasing the Clarity Fuel Cell in 2016 and has expanded availability to parts of California. The Clarity has an EPA-estimated range of 366 miles.
- Hyundai offers the Nexo SUV, which also has a range exceeding 300 miles. The Nexo comes with three high-pressure tanks that can be filled with hydrogen in under 5 minutes.
- Mercedes-Benz has been developing hydrogen vehicles for years, including the GLC F-Cell SUV which combines hydrogen and plug-in capabilities. The GLC F-Cell is available in Europe, not here.
- Toyota launched the Mirai sedan in 2014, which is currently in its second generation. The Mirai has a range of over 300 miles on a full tank of hydrogen and emits only water vapor.
These are the manufacturers that are betting on hydrogen cars: the projects that will revolutionize the future
There are more interesting things waiting in the future for the method of transport using hydrogen molecules. An example of one of the major automakers that have poured large amounts of money in hydrogen fuel cell technology is Toyota and other examples include, Hyundai, BMW, and Honda.
The new models will be released by these companies in the years to come.
Toyota, who introduced to the world fuel cell vehicles in bigger quantity, released a new car based on its current Mirai in 2021.
This is next-generation vehicle zero-emission transportation that is designed to both reduce costs and increase scale Hyundai SA is also planning the introduction of an affordable fuel-cell SUV in 2022 to fortify the Nexo model, which was launched in centre right.
It is clear that hydrogen cars are going to be the future, and to some extent the major manufacturers also know it. However, there are brands that are reluctant to investigate this type of engines, which coincide with those we have not named in this article. Of course, everything could change from one day to another, remember what happened with the Lancia or Porsche, as iconic as disappeared.
