Instead of the large battery pack you’ll find in EVs, FCEVs have a tank with either liquid or gas hydrogen, which is then fed into a fuel cell that in turn facilitates a chemical reaction to create electricity, to either instantly power the motor or be stored away in a much smaller and lighter battery pack. It’s everywhere, and is believed to have been since the ‘Big Bang’, and it can be highly flammable in certain conditions.Īn electric vehicle (EV) that is powered by hydrogen shares similarities with a battery-powered EV (BEV) like a Tesla Model 3, but there are some key differences. Hydrogen is a chemical element that’s also the most abundant in the universe. Here, then, is the state of play with hydrogen FCEVs in Australia. And most other manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz have FCEV research and development programs that stretch back many decades. You know it’s a big deal when Australia’s first (Toyota) and third (Hyundai) largest-selling carmakers are actively setting up and/or encouraging hydrogen infrastructure in this country as well as introducing their flagship HFCV models. So, is the 2020s the decade for the mass production of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV)? Well, it could be. Yet hydrogen as used in fuel cells on a mass scale is one of the leading solutions to weaning society off fossil-fuelled vehicles globally. Who’d want to place themselves and their loved ones inside a machine powered by the stuff? Little wonder hydrogen still has a big image problem, even to this day. People associate hydrogen with disasters such as the Hindenburg airship of 1937 and thermonuclear weapons like the infamous ‘H Bomb’ of the Cold War era. Here’s how.įor more than a century, hydrogen has been touted as the ‘fuel of the future’, and for more than half of that time it has conjured up fear and mistrust. Hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the universe and in the future, it could be available at your local fuel station to fill up your hydrogen car.