ROME – Both electric recharging and hydrogen filling make it possible to create cars with electric traction capable of using renewable sources, instead of fossil fuels, and having a zero level of polluting exhaust emissions.
The difference between the two technological approaches, the one which at the moment makes the battery-powered car clearly prevail, is in the wide diffusion of the electric grid in the main world automotive markets and in the extremely high efficiency with which energy resources pass through the chain of conversions and transformations which range from the production of electricity to the kilometers traveled by each vehicle.
However, the bet of having cars within the reach of a large number of customers with batteries capable of guaranteeing a range of a thousand kilometers or of being “refueled” in five minutes, or even of allowing both things, has not yet been won. And that leaves room for the hydrogen alternative. Indeed, a car with fuel cells can already fill up in less than five minutes today. Furthermore, the advantage for hydrogen grows if we look at trucks for long distances.
So having a second chance doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Furthermore, hydrogen can also power internal combustion engines and turbines for energy production with almost zero emissions. Even allowing for a third possibility, if the first two do not bear the desired results.