Fuel cell myths and misconceptions

Misconception #1: Fuel cell products will never be available to consumers.

Hydrogen and fuel cell products are available today in applications such as forklifts and back-up power where they offer improved performance, financial, environmental and health benefits. Additional markets such as buses, stationary power and micro fuel cells for battery replacement applications will play an important role in educating consumers and establishing an infrastructure. In addition, several automakers including Honda, Toyota and Daimler have identified 2015 as the timeframe for the initial introduction of fuel cell electric vehicles into consumer market.

Misconception #2: Fuel cells are too expensive.

While cost remains a key issue at present, it is recognized that fuel cells have the potential to be produced for even less than incumbent technologies. However, despite their higher cost, in early commercial applications such as back-up power and materials handling, fuel cell technology offers a number of significant advantages over traditional battery technology due to their higher reliability over a wide range of operating conditions, lower maintenance costs, longer operating life and reduced installation footprint. In the vehicular market, when fuel cell electric vehicles are commercially available to consumers, they are expected to be competitively priced. Yet, even with today’s design and high costs of materials, fuel cell systems are fast approaching the cost of advanced hybrid systems.

Misconception #3: Hydrogen vehicles are not a viable alternative to gasoline powered cars.

In many ways, hydrogen vehicles are more viable than gasoline. Vehicles that use hydrogen in an internal combustion engine (ICE) and modified to use gaseous hydrogen, are about 30% more efficient than comparable gasoline vehicles and produce ultra-low emissions, with no CO2. A fuel cell vehicle, which is ideally suited to modern vehicles that increasingly use electrical systems in place of mechanical and hydraulics to steer, brake, and control the various functions of a vehicle, the energy efficiency is two to three times that of a gasoline engine. Also, in a fuel cell electric vehicle, the powertrain can be placed anywhere providing automakers with the ultimate in design freedom.

Misconception #4: Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will not end global warming because we still have to burn fossil fuels to make the hydrogen.

If we continue to drive vehicles running on fossil fuels, we will continue emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at an ever-growing rate. But if we drive vehicles running on hydrogen, and burn fossil fuels to make that hydrogen, we will have a choice about whether to sequester the carbon emitted during production or emit them into the atmosphere. If we choose to produce hydrogen from non-polluting sources of energy, we will decrease the amount of global air pollution that we will create.

Misconception #5 – Government should not fund new technologies.

Governments can play a role in bringing new technologies to the commercial stage. Most modern technologies received significant government support: jet planes, satellite communications, integrated circuits and computers. As an example, before Wall Street found the Internet, it was supported for more than 30 years by the military and National Science Foundation in the United States. The potential for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies to address issues of climate change, urban pollution and energy security remains a large motivator for governments worldwide to justify programs and policies towards the mass market deployment of hydrogen fuel cell technology.