We have heard of the benefits of the hydrogen economy many times. It is presented as a green alternative for transportation. A fuel that does not emit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and can be produced cleanly. However, its efficiency is much lower than what might be expected. And it falls far short of battery electric vehicles. But this new element would benefit the oil and petrochemical companies that manufacture it. And they probably don't want to lose their market power if diesel and gasoline die in the long run.
The hydrogen economy has many pros going for it. The first one is that it allows cars to circulate and only emit water. A great advantage over current fossil fuels. That's clear. Another of its benefits is its speed of loading. A vehicle only takes three minutes to fill its hydrogen tanks. Similar time to refuelling gasoline, but much shorter than charging an electric car battery, which takes hours.
But what is not realized about the hydrogen economy is its low efficiency when producing it. To obtain this element in a clean way, it is necessary to use green energy. That is, it comes from the wind, the sun or some hydroelectric power station, for example. This entails a loss of close to 50% of said energy, which reduces its efficiency.
And as if that were not enough, then this hydrogen is used to obtain electricity again, and thus propel car engines, leaving another 25% on the way. In other words, of all the green energy that was generated, at the end of the entire process, only a quarter has been recovered. Or what is the same, 75% of the electricity has been lost through all this treatment that involves enormous costs. This makes green hydrogen currently unprofitable.
