Electric Cars and Hydrogen Cars

By Qiyan Chen

Prof. Tom Fink

More and more emphasis is put upon environmental health in modern times. While we are driving vehicles emitting gases that contribute to ozone layer damage and global warming, why not think about choosing a vehicle powered by pure electricity or hydrogen? Including not only the bright spots but also their respective drawbacks, we will make comparisons between the two recent innovations: electric and hydrogen cars.

Actually, the electric car is not a brand new innovation, but "dates back to 1881 when Gustav Trouve showcased his tri-pod, or three-wheeled vehicle...in Paris"(Ferrel). Due to some technical and practical setbacks, once electric cars had been kept in the garage. Thanks to fast developing technology, electric cars come back again. Instead of consuming gasoline, an electric car is powered by an electric motor which gets green energy from a mounted-in battery. The battery is rechargeable from your own house or any electric powered stations.

To most customers, the obvious benefit is that electricity is cheaper than petroleum, and comes from renewable resources such as solar and wind power. In most gas stations in New York City, you will find the average #87 gasoline is $3.15 per gallon including tax. According to the U.S Department of Transportation, the average MPG(miles per gallon) of gasoline cars in 2009 is 32.6(DOT). That's approximately one dime per mile. When it comes to electric cars, it is not easy to estimate the exact cost per mile since the capacity of the battery will be lowered each time it is recharged. However, compared to regular cars, "it costs about one to five cents per mile"(CMP Will). Based on that calculation, you will probably save one nickel every mile on the road. In the long term, it pays you back.

Electric cars can save money since electricity is cheaper than petroleum, and we customers can afford the eco-friendly car. Through many year's progress of technology, the price of electric cars is finally brought down to an acceptable level. For example, Nissan's all-electric Leaf's retail price is $32,780, "but that figure can be reduced by a federal tax credit (up to $7,500) plus state and local incentives"(Boyle). The final price is $25,280 just like an gasoline consuming vehicle. Moreover, electric cars can reach the same speed as standard vehicles, but they have less noise. For instance, Nissan's Leaf "is so quiet that....has faint synthetic whine installed to warm the pedestrian when the car is approaching"(Boyle). The price is reasonable and we can feel probably the same as regular vehicles while driving.

The major disadvantage of electric cars is that their batteries fail to last long. They only hold a charge for a short periods of time. As for Nissan's Leaf, " it has an estimated range of 80 to 100 miles per charge-up"(Boyle). For example, the battery may be running out on the road. Then, we have to think about of recharging the car on the road since there are not so many electric stations.

Nevertheless, eco-friendly electric cars turn out not to be environment-friendly enough. The electricity that charges electric cars is not necessarily from a renewable resource. According to the source of Energy Information Administration:
        Renewable-energy sources, such as wind and solar power, account for nearly twenty percent of the                       world's electricity but only ten percent of U.S. Power. Most of America's electricity comes from burning        fossil fuels and nuclear energy. (Quoted in Cooper)

Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide. Also, carbon dioxide adds to the greenhouse effect.
While electric cars sound great and are put into use, there is another new product catching people's attention. This environment friendly innovation is hydrogen cars which use hydrogen as a fuel for its engine to work, as its definition indicates: "The fuel cell stack converts hydrogen gas stored onboard with oxygen from the air into electricity to drive the electric motor that propels the vehicle"(Fueleconomy).

To begin with, hydrogen cars are eco-friendly and cause little harm to the environment: "A suggested benefit of large-scale deployment of hydrogen vehicles is that it could lead to decreased emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone precursors"(Schultz). The byproduct of producing hydrogen will cause greenhouse effect, but hydrogen is progress compared to petroleum. According to the United States Department of Energy, "Producing hydrogen from natural gas does result in some greenhouse gas emissions. When compared to vehicles using gasoline....[they] reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60%” (DOE).

Besides, people are worrying about the world runing out of petroleum since fossil fuels are limited and non renewable, but hydrogen is available and abundant. We do not need to be concerned about its depletion. "electrolysis uses electric current to split molecules of water into hydrogen and oxygen....the gases bubble up through the water tank, the hydrogen can be captured and stored"(Cooper). And we know water is a clean and copious resource.

However, there seem to be many disadvantages. One of them is its onboard storage: "the onboard hydrogen storage systems do not yet meet size, wieght, and cost goals for commercialization....making it difficult for hydrogen vehicles to go as far as gasoline vehicles"("FuelCell"). In additon, the weather condition will be a barrier. Like some places in United States, such as Alaska, it will be jeopardized for hydrogen cars to run on the road: "the temperature goes below the freezing point, there are chances that the water in the fuel cells may freeze. Frozen solid, especially before start up, they would not be able to begin working"("FuelCell"). Under this circumstance, we have to dial 311 to have the vehicle towed, leaving ourselves trembling in the cold weather.

One practical disadvantage for customers is the cost. First, The cost incurred in preparing the hydrogen cells for such cars is quite high: "As of October 2009, Fortune magazine estimated the cost of producing the Honda Clarity at $300,000 per car"(Michael). Thus, more research has to be done to produce inexpensive hydrogen cells. Also, many designs require rare substances such as platinum as a catalyst in order to work properly. But the platinum is very expensive. The recent twenty-four hour price of Platinum is $1,600 per oz(platinumprice). In case of damage, the cost for the repairs and replacement of the fuel cells is also high, which therefore makes the maintenance of these cars an expensive deal.

Indeed, the two kinds of cars are designed to cause less environmental damage. But the hydrogen cars seem to require a very strict requirement to run on the road and the price is impractically high for most of our customers. Thus, for hydrogen cars, they still need technique improvements to reduce the cost. Though electric cars can save money for customers in the long term and are affordable, they are not environmentally friendly enough. From my point of view, a car in the future should balance the environment and customers. Like electric cars, more research is needed to improve the durability of their batteries. Also, new technology is required to make the majority of the electricity out of renewable resources such as solar power and wind.


Works Cited

Boyle, Alan. "Nissan's All-electric Leaf Sparks Quest for Plug-in Power." Msnbc. 15 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
Ferrel, B David. "History of the Electric Car: 1828 - 1912, from Trouve to Morrison." Factoidz. Sept. 1996. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
Cooper, Mary H. "Alternative Fuels." CQ Researcher 15.8 (2005): 173-196. CQ Researcher. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
"CPM Will Soon Become the Standard." Costpermile. n.d.Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
"Fuel Cell Vehicles: Challenges." Fuel Economy. n.d.Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
Michael, Copeland V. "The Hydrogen Car Fights Back." CNN.13 Oct. 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
"Natural Gas Reforming." U.S Department of Energy. n.d.Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
Platinum Price. 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
Schultz, M. G. "Air Pollution and Climate-Forcing Impacts of a Global Hydrogen Economy." Science 302.5645 (2003): 624-27. Sciencemag. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
"Summary of Fuel Economy Performance." U.S Department of Transportation. 30 Mar. 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.