A very distant future . . . maybe.

For sex appeal, the hydrogen-powered car comes on to me a lot stronger than the electric car. After all, hydrogen fuel cells power spaceships; electricity powers toasters.

The main reason for developing hydrogen cars is to reduce carbon emissions. So far, it isn’t working: they save emissions at the tailpipe but only increase them at the smokestack. I’m watching for progress  on three big problems.

1. Like the Hindenburg fire, but under tight control, hydrogen releases a lot of energy when “burned” back into water in a fuel cell. But that’s only after even more energy is used to break hydrogen molecules out of water or methane in the first place. If they don’t find a way to use the sun, wind or other renewable fuel, I’ll emit more carbon dioxide than if I just drive with gasoline.

2. But say they solve that problem. Next they need to get the hydrogen to me. The safest way is underground in pipelines, like natural gas. But hydrogen is so much lighter than natural gas that it takes almost five times as much energy (from carbon?) to pump it through a pipeline.

3. Say they solve that problem too, and I can fill-‘er-up with clean hydrogen at my local station. I’ll need a domed tank eight times the size of my current gas tank – at 5,000 pounds per square inch no less – to go as far. And how much extra energy will it take to manufacture that huge, strong tank?

Until hydrogen can be produced, moved, and stored under pressure using clean energy, it’s nothing more than a way to transfer the CO2 emissions from the car to the electric utility.

Still, I’m hanging on to my childhood dream of a four-wheeled spaceship (with fins) and watching for breakthroughs.