• Question: Do you think that Hydrogen cars would be a good replacement for petrol cars or electric cars?

    Asked by to Clare, Divya, Ian, Jess, Lewis on 13 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      I think hydrogen cars seem like a really good idea. I am not sure what the solution to petrol cars is, but we need to find one soon. Petrol cars are very polluting.

    • Photo: Ian Hands-Portman

      Ian Hands-Portman answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      It could be but there are problems with it – It’s less polluting than petrol and quicker to fill up on than electric but we still have to make the hydrogen somehow so we have to avoid making from fossil fuels or it’s just moving pollution around.

      We also have to find a safe way to store it – high pressure gas cylinders are dangerous and heavy and hydrogen’s just a teeny bit more explosive petrol. Weight for weight it also doesn’t carry as much energy as petrol or batteries and filling up a car safely with high pressure hydrogen isn’t easy.

      I think the best way to use hydrogen for cars is to use it to make something easier to handle – something liquid at room temperature than could be sold at existing petrol stations, methanol would be a good start as it’s easy to make.

    • Photo: Jess Smith

      Jess Smith answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      Hydrogen fueled vehicles is one of the few solutions that needs to be scaled down rather than up (electric cars were after remote controlled cars for example). We can already power buses and lorries by hydrogen, because they have enough space on top to store the hydrogen.

    • Photo: Divya Venkatesh

      Divya Venkatesh answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      Wow I didn’t know anything about hydrogen cars, I’m looking them up now –amazing!

    • Photo: Clare Nevin

      Clare Nevin answered on 15 Mar 2014:

      Finding alternatives to petrol and diesel cars is really important for tackling the problem of pollution. Hydrogen cars do not leave any toxic waste products, it is efficient and it is a renewable energy source. However, we have to use fossil fuels to extract the hydrogen from oxygen so that itself leaves a carbon footprint. It is also difficult and dangerous to transport so would require a lot of development to make it usable.

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