Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumEnergy.gov: Top 11 Things You Didn’t Know About Fuel Cells
Zero Emission Bay Area (ZEBA) -- a group of regional transit agencies in Northern California -- operates twelve, zero-emission, fuel cell buses in real-world service throughout the Bay Areas diverse communities and landscapes. | Photo courtesy of Leslie Eudy, NREL
11. Similar to a battery, a fuel cell is a device that produces electricity through an electrochemical reaction -- a chemical reaction that generates electricity without any combustion. Unlike batteries, fuel cells dont run down or need recharging. As long as there is a constant source of fuel and oxygen, fuel cells will continue to generate power. Check out the fuel cell animation to learn how fuel cells work.
9. While hydrogen is a common fuel source for fuel cells, it isnt the only one. Fuel cells can produce electricity using hydrogen-rich fuels, such as biogas, natural gas, propane, methanol and diesel.
8. Fuel cells have the potential to revolutionize the way we power the nation. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are not only pollution-free -- the only emissions are heat and water as byproducts -- but they also can have more than two times the efficiency of traditional combustion technologies.
4. Fuel cells can be used in a wide range of applications -- not just light-duty transportation. Companies -- such as FedEx, Sysco, Walmart and Coca Cola -- are using fuel cells to power material handling equipment like forklifts, and major telecommunications companies -- such as Sprint and AT&T -- are using them as emergency backup power for cell phone towers all over the country
Full list: http://energy.gov/articles/top-11-things-you-didn-t-know-about-fuel-cells
kristopher
(29,798 posts)nationalize the fed
(2,169 posts)energy.gov: Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars beat out BEV's in well to wheel greenhouse gas emissions. (Grams of CO2-equivalent per mile) (PDF)
http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/10001_well_to_wheels_gge_petroleum_use.pdf
The batteries on a battery only EV will sooner or later have to be replaced. On a tesla, it can be as much as $40,000 (and don't let them fully discharge). What happens to the spent batteries?
Battery EV's lose up to 57% of their range in cold weather. Fuel cell cars don't share that problem http://cars.chicagotribune.com/fuel-efficient/news/chi-electric-vehicles-lose-range-in-cold
Watch Top Gear's James May review the Honda Fuel Cell Clarity
http://topgear.com/uk/videos/honda-clarity On the same show (S12-E07), Clarkson reviewed the Tesla Roadster. After it aired, Elon Musk tried to sue Top Gear.
Driving around a half ton of lithium every where you go might sound like fun but so was driving the DeLorean.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Source: http://www.metricmind.com/data/bevs_vs_fcvs.pdf
Now your graphic compares FCEVs under mystical imaginary conditions for generation against Battery Electric Vehicles using US grid power or all renewable.
It FAILS to show what the GHG emissions are under similar conditions, ie using US grid power or all renewable.
Thus, it's claptrap. It was submitted to and published among other creations by the US government, but such publication does not represent validation.