Hydrogen Cars

The current typical automobile in the world is the gasoline car, which has dominated the automobile industry since the late 19th century. However, as the earth’s fossil fuels continue to deplete at an increasing rate, it would be ignorant to assume that gasoline cars will eternally be the dominant design. This would mean that if Man were to continue using automobiles as a form of transport, alternatives would have to be implemented. We are proposing that hydrogen cars will be the future for the automobile industry.

The benefits of hydrogen cars are plentiful. It has zero carbon emission, which would address issues such as pollution and global warming. It also takes advantage of the earth’s most abundant and renewable resource, water, to substitute the declining production of oil. Currently, only the electric car offers these characteristics. However, the hours of charging time for an electric car as opposed to the minutes to refill a hydrogen fuel cell car would be a significant factor in a consumer’s choice.

The question that then arises is: If hydrogen cars are that good, why are they not fully commercialised now? One reason is the perceived shortcomings of hydrogen cars, such as its safety. However, we feel that the main reason why hydrogen cars are not commercialised is because of its current feasibility due to high costs of production. There would be no market for a car that costs twice as much as a gasoline car and functions similarly.

This results in a chicken and egg problem for hydrogen cars. Without the necessary infrastructure, costs of production remain high. Without the benefits of consumer demands, firms see no incentive to invest in the infrastructure. Automobile firms are therefore unwilling to allocate the necessary resources towards the production of hydrogen cars. This is where government intervention is required.

The Hynor Project in Norway is an insight into how a world where hydrogen cars are the dominant design of the automobile industry...