Why Hydrogen Engines Are A Bad Idea

Hydrogen combustion engines won't exist in the fuel cell & EV future.

On the surface, hydrogen combustion engines seem like the ultimate solution for car guys. You still get a wonderful four-stroke piston-cylinder combustion engine, with the sound and feel you've come to love, but all without any carbon emissions. Since hydrogen fuel (H2) doesn't have carbon in it (like gasoline or diesel fuel), there's no carbon added to the byproducts of combustion in a hydrogen engine. It's just as good as it sounds, but unfortunately there's a much more logical alternative that makes hydrogen engines seem quite silly. Check out the video for all the details!

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[EngineeringExplained]

For anyone interested in learning more about hydrogen combustion engines/fuel cells, here are two videos explaining the fundamentals:

[SpareWheelOfficial]

*Electrons come back eventually because they are very kind*

You so nice man. Community need more people like you.

[WindowsPro]

I wanna see Honda making a hydrogen combustion engine with *VTEC*

[tonisolla]

The advantage of hydrogen combustion is million's of car's with regular engines could quickly be converted at minimal cost.

[MadeWithLayers]

You forgot to mention that fuel cell vehicles don't make vroom vroom noises, which is something that the internet likes to bring out as a k.o. argument as to why they would never drive an EV.

[mathewknight]

Creating battery's also causes a lot of carbon and battery's dont last for ever.

[aughtsdrive]

I could see a future where both systems are a thing, and that's by design. We could have fuel cell cars be the "people carriers", no gears, fully autonomous at some point, all that jazz. As Hydrogen ICE these could replace gasoline ICE engines for enthusiast vehicles - so there'd be a very true separation between "cars" and "sports cars", where the sports cars could be more focused when not strangled by emissions, by a way of introducing NOx capture devices or running the fuel lean. Sports cars could become a true niche of it's own, used for purely sporting purposes and not considered A to B transportation, owning a sports car that you drive yourself, change gears yourself and create noise with would be more akin to owning a jetski - it would be a leisure toy, stripped of it's previous function. I don't know if this makes sense to anybody but it's my two cents

[michaelossipoff]

One more thing: Fuel-Cells require the mining and smelting of Cobalt and other uncommon metals, as opposed to the common iron used in internal-combustion and moderate-temp Stirlings.

[sparkthatplug]

2:22 Electrons come back because they are very kind. XD

[fortisprocer]

As a car guy I have always been intrigued by fuel cells. We actually started using them in place of a battery for our equipment at work (fork lifts and such). Not only did it have better range over the lead acid battery's but it also was more efficient since it took about 4 min t fill the tank vs 15 min to swap out for a fresh 600lb-1000lb battery (depending on which equipment needed the swap).

[TheGbab]

Your explanations are all true, except for financial considerations. Yes, a fuel cell is twice as efficient as an IC engine. I worked for the leading fuel cell manufacturer for 10 years. Our city buses before conversion to Hydrogen fuel cells cost $325 thousand each. After converion $3.5 million each! Now these were 100% Hydrogen power, no hybrid battery involved. It is ten times more expensive if you compare Kw to Kw, Hydrogen to IC piston engine. The diesel busses converted to Hydrogen diesel would have cost perhaps $500 thousand each. As you can see the Hydrogen fuel cell as a large industrial vehicle power source is not viable. The non-renewable Platinum catalyst alone for one of these busses is $350 thousand.
Your arugument is interesting, but not applicable to the actual real World.

[DanBowkley]

Diesel engines also make a lot of NOx, and we mitigate that with selective catalytic reduction and urea injection systems. How big of a pain in the rear end would it be to stick an SCR or DEF system on an H2 engine?

[evan_rains]

"Electrons come back eventually because they are very kind"

You are the Bob Ross of science

[randycarter]

"Luckily, in the history of humanity, nothing bad has ever happened from lighting hydrogen on fire." Mark Watney, The Martian.

[lucaslacasse]

Two things I like to say I think hydrogen combustion has its place in replacing old cars and people who still want something to have noise but be greener
Because a few nitrous oxide is still better than tons of nitrous oxide tons of CO2 all that stuff combined

[liamcstransky]

Gasoline powered cars also produce NOx, as well as having a relatively same amount of efficiency overall. In my opinion, Hydrogen combustion engines would be a perfect alternative for race cars and high performance sports cars, as well as car enthusiasts in the event that the world runs out of oil and gasoline... There are already those same NOx emissions coming out of normal gasoline vehicles, and with the subtraction of carbon emissions, they could prove to be a great alternative.

[trickylifts]

Video idea: Why Whiteboards are a Good Idea

[the_perigoso]

Next video: Why hydrogen fuel cells are a bad idea

[nitin]

Yesterday I saw an article where Toyota has a hydrogen ICE prototype that sound like a tuned sports car.

[blzs_perger]

I just came from a video made in 2011 where he explained how a combustor works in a dark room with a little whiteboard. It's cool to see when life works out for someone. Keep it up man, good job!