When Will Hydrogen Cars Be Available?

It's long been my view that hydrogen cars are ultimately where 'green' motoring is headed.

Hybrids are the current trend, with electric vehicles (EVs) possibly set to take over, but I see hydrogen as being the final winner.

My main reason for thinking this is that hydrogen would use a similar infrastructure to petrol (Same fuel stations, similar tankers to supply them, it can even be extracted from hydrocarbons and coal, although it's hoped renewable sources will replace these). This is important, as society and, more importantly, the powers-that-be, are resistent to change.

It looks like the first hydrogen cars will made available between 2015 and 2017. Front runners in the race are Daimler, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and VW. We even have small trials running here in Britain based on prototype vehicles from Riversimple.

However, these early arrivals are unlikely to sell in large numbers for several reasons: They use very expensive fuel cells (based on platinum); These cells can degrade quickly; and the re-fuelling network isn't there yet. Sounds a bit the like issues facing EVs doesn't it?

Whilst the re-fuelling issue is likely to go away with time, the other 2 issues need to be addressed before hydrogen cars get a reputation for being poor investments (Something that has plagued both EVs and hybrids, a little unfairly I must add).

Well, it looks like a small British company called Acal Energy may have the solution to both. They claim to have developed a fuel cell that is substantially cheaper and far more long-lived. It won't be available for the first generation of vehicles but will likely be there for the second generation come 2020 (More here).

I think it could be a game changer