Hydrogen Fuel Challenges
Hydrogen Fuel Challenges
There are some important challenges to be overcome in the development of Hydrogen Fuelled vehicles:
Hydrogen boil-off
Boil-off impacts cost, efficiency and vehicle range, and is a safety consideration for vehicles parked in confined spaces.
It is however hoped that recent developments in other fields may help solve this challenge. For example, one of the properties of nanoengineered carbon is that it absorbs hydrogen. It is expected that this property will be harnessed to allow more efficient storage of hydrogen fuel, and the US Department of Energy has put a bounty on any material that can be developed that is capable of storing hydrogen efficiently.
Gravimetric and Volumetric capacity
The density of hydrogen is low plus fuel must be insulated to keep the temperature very low, and this reduces gravimetric and volumetric capacity. A hydrogen car would require a huge tank if it was to have the same range as a conventional gasoline car.
Delivery
A suitable delivery network to distribute the super-chilled and highly-compressed hydrogen gas around the country has yet to be put in place. Such a dedicated network could be expensive and technologically challenging, although recent technological advancements in nano materials could help overcome these challenges.