Hydrogen Cars and the Future of Sustainable Transportation

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been talked about as the next big thing in cleantransport for decades. Yet in 2024, there are fewer than 20,000 on the road worldwide.That gap between promise and reality is exactly what this paper investigates. The studyreviews current literature and industry data to examine how hydrogen vehicles actuallywork, how hydrogen is produced and stored, how efficient the technology is, and whetherit is genuinely safe. It also puts hydrogen vehicles directly against battery electric vehiclesto see where each one wins and where each one falls short. The findings are mixed butclear. Hydrogen has real advantages in heavy transport and long-distance travel, wherebatteries struggle with weight and charging time. But for everyday passenger cars, thebarriers are still significant. Green hydrogen is expensive to produce, refueling stationsare rare, and the overall energy efficiency is lower than battery alternatives. This paperconcludes that hydrogen is not a replacement for battery electric vehicles in the nearterm. It is, however, a serious candidate for decarbonizing sectors that batteries simplycannot handle well.