i hear that there are lots of tyepes of fuel cells but some of them were not used for carsthanks!
There may be lots of types of fuel cells but there are only two commercially made hydrogen fuel cell electric cars that are presently available. There are about 500 Honda FCX Clarity's (1) and an anticipated 200 Mercedes F Cell (2) vehicles available only for lease. The type of fuel cell in these vehicles is known as a PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell. Efficiency for a PEM cell reaches about 40 to 50 percent. 1 This can be compared to the efficiency of the gasoline engine with out the transmission and drive train of about 28%, the efficiency of the Diesel engine of about 40% without the transmission and drive train and the battery electric car which does not need a transmission so the vehicle can be over 90% efficient.4 A petrol vehicle is only about 15% efficient from tank to wheels. So a fuel cell electric vehicle is slightly more efficient than a diesel engine car. As an aside most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels as this is the cheapest method.5
Hydrogen powered cars burn hydrogen in an internal combustion engine. A hydrogen/electric car uses hydrogen reacting with oxygen in a fuel cell to run electric motor(s) to run the car. There are many different technologies and it is too difficult to give a good answer with efficiency figures here.
