Fuel Cell Vehicle - Efficiency and Cost

Efficiency and Cost

Advancements in fuel cell technology have reduced the size, weight and cost of fuel cell electric vehicles. Fuel cell electric vehicles have been produced with "a driving range of more than 250 miles between refueling". They can be refueled in less than 5 minutes. Deployed fuel cell buses have a 40% higher fuel economy than diesel buses. EERE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Program claims that, as of 2011, fuel cells achieved a 42 to 53% fuel cell electric vehicle efficiency at full power, and a durability of over 75,000 miles with less than 10% voltage degradation, double that achieved in 2006.

Professor Jeremy P. Meyers, in the Electrochemical Society journal Interface in 2008, wrote, "While fuel cells are efficient relative to combustion engines, they are not as efficient as batteries, due primarily to the inefficiency of the oxygen reduction reaction. ... hey make the most sense for operation disconnected from the grid, or when fuel can be provided continuously. For applications that require frequent and relatively rapid start-ups ... where zero emissions are a requirement, as in enclosed spaces such as warehouses, and where hydrogen is considered an acceptable reactant, a is becoming an increasingly attractive choice ". In 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimated that the cost of automobile fuel cells had fallen 80% since 2002 and that such fuel cells could potentially be manufactured for $51/kW, assuming high-volume manufacturing cost savings. The practical cost of fuel cells for cars will remain high, however, until production volumes incorporate economies of scale and a well-developed supply chain. Until then, costs are roughly one order of magnitude higher than DOE targets.

In a Well-to-Wheels analysis, the DOE estimated that fuel cell electric vehicles using hydrogen produced from natural gas would result in emissions of approximately 55% of the CO₂ per mile of internal combustion engine vehicles and have approximately 25% less emissions than hybrid vehicles. Richard Gilbert, co-author of Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil (2010), comments that producing hydrogen gas ends up using some of the energy it creates. Then, energy is taken up by converting the hydrogen back into electricity within fuel cells. "'This means that only a quarter of the initially available energy reaches the electric motor' ... Such losses in conversion don't stack up well against, for instance, recharging an electric vehicle (EV) like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt from a wall socket". Other analyses conclude, moreover, that numerous challenges remain before fuel cell cars can become competitive with other technologies. They cite the lack of an extensive hydrogen infrastructure in the U.S. and stating: "the large amount of energy required to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds (water, natural gas, biomass), package the light gas by compression or liquefaction, transfer the energy carrier to the user, plus the energy lost when it is converted to useful electricity with fuel cells, leaves around 25% for practical use."