Finally, the Death of Hydrogen?

In 2010, when I wrote my first book: “Renewable Energy–Facts and Fantasies,” I wanted a chapter on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, and so I turned to the local expert on the subject, Honda’s Steve Ellis.  Steve was anxious to promote his “baby,” the Honda FCX Clarity, and he figured that my book was as good a place as any to make that happen.

Yet I wasn’t convinced that hydrogen had a future, due largely to the lack of fueling infrastructure.  Where battery EV owners can unplug their toasters and plug in their cars, this is anything but the case with hydrogen.

And now, not to boast, but my prediction has come true: hydrogen-fueled cars are flailing in the market.  From Bloomberg:

Despite billions of dollars of investment, fuel cell cars in the US are disappearing in the rearview mirror, overtaken by battery-electric models and stalled by hydrogen shortages and soaring fuel prices. Last year, drivers bought just 3,143 hydrogen cars in California — the only state that sells them — compared with 380,000 BEVs.

Hydrogen’s proponents aren’t throwing in the towel. Toyota and Hyundai are pushing fuel cell models, albeit at heavy discounts, and Honda just announced a hydrogen hybrid version of its best-selling CR-V. California continues to build new infrastructure. But for drivers and would-be car buyers, the practical experience of going hydrogen-electric is bad and getting worse.

My suspicion, and it’s not an original idea, is that the fossil fuel industry has been using hydrogen as a red herring for the last half century.  The oil embargo in the 1970s created an imperative for an alternative to petroleum, then Big Oil (without any sincerity whatsoever), immediately began promoting its “commitment” to the “hydrogen economy.”  Now, 50 years later, check out your social media feed and what ExxonMobil claims to be doing in this space.

It’s nauseating. In terms of honesty and decency, these people make Donald Trump look like Mahatma Gandhi.