I know that all hydrogen for the hydrogen fuel cells has to be produced at a net energy loss, and that hydrogen is more of a way to store energy than a source for energy. But how does storing energy in the form of hydrogen that can be used in fuel cells compare to storing energy in a battery for later use. Which is more efficient, more maintenance free? With more research, could fuel cells and hydrogen be a better and cheaper energy storage than batteries and electric motors, especially with lithium and other materials used in batteries becoming more expensive and harder to find?
Hydrogen fuel is not a very good alternative. Many think it would be better than the fuel we use at the moment which is giving off Co2 emissions. However, in the case of a car being hydrogen fuelled it gives off water vapour, this is an even more damaging Green house gas / emission than Co2 is.
Hydrogen can be refilled or recharged faster than a battery. Fuel cells can use any hydrocarbon product from pure hydrogen to heavy fuel oil depending on the units design. More energy can be stored in hydrogen than in a battery. Electric motors would still be needed since fuel cells produce electricity. Not one of your questions answered directly, but some info
We have on the market for sale battery electric vehicles (BEV.) Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) are only available for lease with estimates of the vehicle price between $100,000 and $2,000,000. A BEV has to store all the energy in batteries. The technology is advancing but range and charge times remain an issue. A FCEV is also an electric vehicle that produces electricity on the vehicle using hydrogen from storage on the vehicle plus oxygen from the atmosphere. A FCEV also requires some batteries to take care of power demands this makes a FCEV a more complex vehicle but it gains the advantage of range and charge times. This complexity suggests that more maintenance may be required. Both vehicles have electric motors. A FCEV is slightly more efficient overall than a diesel engine, about 40%. A BEV can have efficiencies over 90%. You might also consider that there is no free hydrogen on Earth because it combines too easily with other elements. Energy must therefore be used to make hydrogen before it can be used in a FCEV. The cheapest way to do this is using fossil fuels and any large scale use of hydrogen vehicles without legislation will likely be just another way to burn fossil fuels. Overall the efficiency is rather dismal along with the pollution released in the manufacturing process. We presently have a glut of lithium and batteries on the market. This is likely to continue for the next several years. At some point we will move away from lithium chemistry for batteries or away from batteries all-together. It would be a mistake to compare some future hydrogen technology to the present day battery storage. We need to compare present to present and future to future.
