Hydrogen cost could equal 50-cent gasoline, with renewable energy: study

[caraher]

7. And it's even worse than that

Given that you've produced said renewable energy, forming the hydrogen and then recombining with oxygen in the fuel cells are two independent steps, neither of which is terribly efficient. You wind up throwing most of that energy away.

At least using that renewable energy to charge a battery you can easily use 80-85% of it to move a vehicle (limited mainly by charging efficiency). With fuel cells, we'll be lucky if the two steps (electrolysis and fuel cell operation) ever reach 70% each, guaranteeing the loss of half the energy by the time you take that renewable energy and put it to use.

There will likely be circumstances where that loss does not matter, but since battery EVs already perform well enough to meet the needs of most drivers in daily use, electricity distribution infrastructure actually exists, and the overall process is more efficient, a big push for hydrogen right now would mainly have the effect of supporting and expanding the continued extraction of the fossil hydrocarbons that will remain the chief source of hydrogen for the foreseeable future. Using renewable energy for transportation doesn't have to wait for a less-efficient infrastructure to be created.