SUSTAINABILITY
HYDROGEN FUEL CELL electric vehicles ( FCEVs ) have been touted as an alternative to electric vehicles ( EVs ) for a number of years . Not only are they just as environmentally friendly , perhaps even more so , but they take away the need for lengthy charges and most have a range of around 300 miles .
There are two things currently holding back the rapid adoption of FCEVs however . The first is infrastructure . While there are plenty of plans to roll out new refueling stations for hydrogen vehicles , the infrastructure still doesn ’ t allow for widespread use of this fuel .
In March this year , ITM Power , Shell , Toyota , Honda and Hyundai formed a consortium and won £ 8.8mn ($ 11.86mn ) in funding from the Department for Transport to improve access to an expanded network of hydrogen refueling stations in the UK . At the moment , however , it ’ s Scandinavia and Germany leading the charge for the roll out of FCEVs .
The second barrier to full-scale adoption of these cars is cost . Hydrogen is sold in kilograms rather than volume and current prices are approximately £ 10 to £ 15 ($ 13.50
‘ At the moment , hydrogen FCEVs have much higher per-mile costs than EVs or internal combustion engine cars ’
52 June 2018