electrolysis requires a lot of input energy so it’s not very efficient, and nuclear is still very expensive and politically contentious. And if we were somehow able to get new nuclear plants built they’d be put to much better use replacing coal plants than for H2 production.
Sure, but electrolysis is only around 30% efficient — so you need 3 units of energy to produce the hydrogen to drive a vehicle x distance, whereas a BEV would only need one unit to travel the same distance.
That is, you can use the electricity generated from that nuclear power plant to drive three times the distance with a fleet of BEVs than you’ll get out of a fleet of hydrogen powered vehicles.
*if we can find a clean way of producing H2 at scale
Electrolysis works, though as with everything, nuclear is the best option.
electrolysis requires a lot of input energy so it’s not very efficient, and nuclear is still very expensive and politically contentious. And if we were somehow able to get new nuclear plants built they’d be put to much better use replacing coal plants than for H2 production.
Sure, but electrolysis is only around 30% efficient — so you need 3 units of energy to produce the hydrogen to drive a vehicle x distance, whereas a BEV would only need one unit to travel the same distance.
That is, you can use the electricity generated from that nuclear power plant to drive three times the distance with a fleet of BEVs than you’ll get out of a fleet of hydrogen powered vehicles.