In the near future, cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells will become a possibility. Let us have a look at the advantage for cars that will use hydrogen fuel cells. The first advantage is that the car owner will make significant savings in terms of money since hydrogen fuel is less cost than gasoline. The other advantage is that there will be no pollution such as that caused by the burning of fossil fuels. There will be better national security for the governments and they will be spending lesser amount of money on importing fossil fuels.
An on board hydrogen powered system will be able to provide all the advantages mentioned above. Hydrogen in this case is made from methanol water reforming. Hydrogen gas will help to save money as it cost just $25/kg. 1 kg of hydrogen fuel cell can provide the same energy as one gallon of gasoline. Methanol costs about $1 per gallon and hence one can maximize the power generated by extracting the chemical energy in it to produce hydrogen. Hence on board production of hydrogen through methanol will cost half as much as gasoline and there will be zero emissions in the environment.
Hydrogen is safe from saving the planet point of view. Hydrogen is made from natural gas and it can also be made from power generated through wind and nuclear power. Methanol is also produced from natural gas and it is as eco friendly as hydrogen.
It is also easier to transport through pipelines. Methanol is less flammable than hydrogen.
As mentioned before the national security of a country will also improve by using hydrogen powered vehicles. This is because the country’s dependence on foreign powers for oil will decrease considerably. Hydrogen will be used on fuel cells and hydrogen can be produced from methanol water.
It costs less and the power generated from a fuel cell will last for a few weeks easily. Hence it will prove to be extremely cost effective in the long run. The hydrogen powered electricity can also be used to power electric appliances such as fax and computer. Even the soldiers will have to carry lighter backpacks as there will be hydrogen powered fuel cells than the conventionally heavy battery packs.