Hydrogen fuel for vehicles may not be familiar for most of us this time. but I'm pretty sure that Hydrogen will be a very important fuel for our vehicles in the future. If you've ever read about how the sun produces its energy, then maybe you can imagine what if humans will also use Hydrogen as a source of energy for our vehicles like the sun. (although the process is different).
we know that all countries are now competing to take advantage of new energy sources which have large supplies and environmentally friendly as well. so they have tried to shift their fuel source from fossil fuels to electricity.
currently, fossil fuels are the main source of energy used by humans for their vehicles. and we know that not only causes severe air pollution, the fossil fuels are also limited and predicted to run out in the near future.
As we can see, based on the BP Statistical Review of World Energy in 2016. The remaining fossil fuel supply is about 50 years only. that means we have to really prepare new energy sources to overcome this problem, considering that fossil fuels are a source of energy that is widely used by humans today.
Of course, if you look at the data above, there are still several sources of energy that are quite abundant, such as coal, but this thing has the same problem with fossil fuels. Coal also has a major problem with high pollution. and so it's not the right choice in the determination of decisions and commitments of all countries in the world that are headed to Green Energy.
in fact, coal may be very difficult to directly apply as fuel for our vehicles. and so far I don't think anyone has done that. but still, coal is the main energy source today which can be used to generate electricity and processed into batteries for our vehicles. and it's simply not a good choice for us to achieve a world vision with Green Energy.
we can see that coal is the dirtiest fuel compared to other fuels. so an abundance of stocks will not make coal the right choice.
for example, Germany and France are currently very serious countries to leave coal as their energy source. On the other hand, the choice of gas as a fuel is also not promising, even though the level of CO2 emission is lower than oil and coal, but we can see that gas supplies are limited as well. Therefore, a new alternative fuel is needed, which is more stocked and of course, must be environmentally friendly.
Hydrogen is an option
Hydrogen fuel is one of the renewable energies which is projected to become the main energy source in the near future. especially for our vehicle's energy source. sure, that a lot of renewable energy is no less good than hydrogen. such as electrical energy is also projected to become a source of energy for our vehicles. but we won't discuss electrical energy in this post, maybe next time. we will just try to see how hydrogen really becomes one of the best options for our future fuel.
There are several reasons why hydrogen is feasible to be a source of fuel for our vehicles in the future such as environmentally friendly and easy working principle. it also has a much faster charging time when compared to vehicles using electric batteries. where hydrogen only takes approximately the same time required for refueling oil fuel. this fact is very inversely proportional to the process of charging an electric vehicle which takes a much longer time. Besides that, Hydrogen fuel has the advantage of battery weight, which is battery-powered by Hydrogen that will be much lighter than vehicles that run on the electric battery.
How does Hydrogen Fuel works ?
Basically, the working principle of Hydrogen fuel in producing energy for our vehicles is by utilizing the chemical reaction of water breakdown (H₂O) to become Hydrogen (H) and Oxygen (O).
this cycle is a reversible reaction. and generate an electric current to turn on the generator.
This chemical process utilizes a technology called Fuel-Cell which is a technology that allows this chemical reaction to run properly.
for more details you can see the order of work of this process:
1.The hydrogen atom in the tube will enter the anode or the positive terminal of the fuel cell, while oxygen will enter the cathode or the negative terminal.
2.The hydrogen atom is stripped of its electrons at the anode
3.Furthermore the positively charged protons pass through the membrane and towards the cathode while the negatively charged electrons are forced through the circuit, producing electricity to run the vehicle generator
4.After that, electrons would combine with protons and oxygen from the air to produce the fuel cell byproducts: water and heat
5.rotating cycle: 2H₂ + O₂ ⇄ H₂O
How is the development of Hydrogen Vehicles today?
well, We've to admit that this time the application of hydrogen fuel is not as massive as the application of car vehicles with electric batteries. however, I think it's only about time that hydrogen fuel will be applied to our vehicles massively in the future. Currently, Toyota, which is one of the giant automotive vehicle manufacturers, is a company that is very active in developing hydrogen-fueled cars. even last year they have issued a second series of their hydrogen car called Mirai.
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Other companies seem don't want to be left behind, the South Korean automotive giant, Hyundai, is already quite advanced in the development of hydrogen-fueled cars. they have even launched a special trademark for their hydrogen-fueled cars.
in addition, Hyundai has successfully struck a landmark deal with one of Australia's hydrogen producers, Jemena Ltd. & Coregas, to become the main supplier of hydrogen for cars made by Hyundai. This agreement is also predicted to increase the use of Hydrogen cars in Australia.
While European manufacturers such as BMW are starting to do the same thing, they plan to launch their Hydrogen car BMW X5 in 2022.
Conclusion
Hydrogen will be an important fuel for humans in the future. along with the electric battery which has been developed earlier. Hydrogen will help us to achieve the Green Energy vision.
Currently, the use of Hydrogen for vehicle fuels is still in an underdeveloped stage, but as I said before that it is only a matter of time. The world's automotive giants will be the main drivers of the shift from oil-fueled vehicles to more environmentally friendly fuels, Hydrogen.
we will probably see many of these hydrogen vehicles soon. or even we'll have it too. whatever it's something that we must support for a cleaner world.
"The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for"
by Ernest Hemingway
References
- https://octopus.energy/blog/when-will-fossil-fuels-run-out/
- https://ourworldindata.org/how-long-before-we-run-out-of-fossil-fuels
- https://www.e-education.psu.edu/eme801/node/486
- https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
- https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-fuel
- https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-hydrogen
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikescott/2020/12/14/green-hydrogen-the-fuel-of-the-future-set-for-50-fold-expansion/?sh=66c358d16df3
- https://oto.detik.com/mobil/d-4784153/bagaimana-masa-depan-mobil-hidrogen
- https://www.toyota.com/mirai/
- https://www.angloamerican.com/futuresmart/stories/our-industry/technology/how-hydrogen-fuel-cells-work
- https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/hyundai-partners-with-gas-giants-for-hydrogen-cars-in-australia-20200806-p55jdo.html
- https://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_fuel