WASHINGTON (TND) — British fuel cell company Intelligent Energy unveiled a new hydrogen fuel cell system that is smaller and more powerful than anything currently on the market and could help achieve a zero-emission future.
Electric vehicles are common, but there is another kind of zero-emission vehicle that exists: a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. These vehicles use the same kind of electric motor to turn the wheels that a regular electric car does, but how they are powered is different.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, instead of only using a battery that can be charged, a hydrogen car essentially has its own power plant – called the fuel cell – that uses hydrogen from a tank and oxygen from the air to turn energy into electricity.
The main benefit of these hydrogen vehicles is that they only emit water vapor and warm air.
While they are sold here in the U.S., they are not super popular. In total, there have been around 18,000 sold – all in California – which is 16% more than a year ago. They are all in California because California is the only state other than Hawaii with public hydrogen refueling stations.
Japan and South Korea are dominating the space, representing more than 90% of the market combined. This is unsurprising because the only two hydrogen models that are currently being produced are the Hyundai Nexo and the Toyota Mirai. Honda, however, is releasing a new model this year.
Electric vehicles, on the other hand, are extremely popular. According to Experian, as of Q4 2023, there are about 3.3 million electric vehicles on the road in the U.S.
To put this into perspective, though, that is only 1% of the 288.5 million total registered vehicles here in the U.S.
Electric vehicle sales are not decreasing, the growth rate has just slowed in recent years.
California has been the leading state for both the number of electric vehicles and the number of charging stations. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, as of 2022, California has nearly 40% of the country’s electric cars and nearly 30% of the country’s charging stations.
While new electric vehicle models are constantly hitting the market, Tesla has dominated the market for years. However, its market share has decreased. In 2019, Tesla had nearly 80% of the market share, but that number dropped to about 56% in February of this year.
Ford has maintained a very distant second place, at just under 7%, but with new models and manufacturers – like Rivian – joining the scene, there could be a shift in popularity.
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