Hydrogen fuel cells are one of the most promising alternatives to internal combustion engine hybrids and pure battery electric power for propelling passenger vehicles. Compared to internal combustion engine hybrid vehicles burning hydrocarbon fuels, fuel cell vehicles offer three primary advantages. First, the fuel cell system produces no tank-to-wheel carbon dioxide emissions and no other harmful emissions such as oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, or particulates. Second, the fuel cell system offers the potential for approximately 30% higher well-to-wheel energy efficiency. Third, the hydrogen fuel consumed by the fuel cell can be produced from a variety of renewable sources. | Electric Vehicles Fuel Cells C Hochgraf General Motors Fuel Cell Activities Honeoye Falls NY USA Published by Elsevier . Introduction - Why Fuel Cells Hydrogen fuel cells are one of the most promising alternatives to internal combustion engine hybrids and pure battery electric power for propelling passenger vehicles. Compared to internal combustion engine hybrid vehicles burning hydrocarbon fuels fuel cell vehicles offer three primary advantages. First the fuel cell system produces no tank-to-wheel carbon dioxide emissions and no other harmful emissions such as oxides of nitrogen carbon monoxide or particulates. Second the fuel cell system offers the potential for approximately 30 higher well-to-wheel energy efficiency. Third the hydrogen fuel consumed by the fuel cell can be produced from a variety of renewable sources including carbon-free methods such as electrolysis of water. Compared to pure battery-run electric vehicles the fuel cell vehicle offers three primary advantages. First the fuel cell vehicle has more than twice the driving range of a vehicle using existing batteries. Second it offers a much shorter refueling time enabling brief refueling stops on long trips. Third at cold temperatures the fuel cell system can warm up much faster than a battery and therefore produce full power in a shorter period of time. A fuel cell vehicle can be refilled with compressed hydrogen at a rate of kg hydrogen per minute. To recharge a battery electric vehicle at an equivalent rate would require the battery and charger to handle MW of power. Such a charger would be 400 times larger than that typically used for battery electric vehicles. At -30 C many high-energy lithium battery chemistries cannot provide high power that is they cannot support discharge C-rates of 10 or more. To get full power capability the battery would need to be warmed up. However the time and energy required to accomplish this for a battery are significantly longer than for a well-designed
