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What Are the Pros and Cons?

  • Air pollution. EVs do not produce any tailpipe emissions. They can be up to 99 percent cleaner than conventional vehicles, even when power-plant emissions are included. If battery electrics recharge using renewable energy sources like wind, solar, or hydropower, they cause no air pollution at all.
  • Global-warming pollution. As with air pollution, electric power plants are the only source of global-warming pollutants from EVs. When EVs recharge using renewable energy sources, they do not cause any global warming emissions at all. Even if EVs are recharged using fossil fuels, they can cut global warming emissions by as much as 70 percent.
  • Costs. EVs cost significantly more than gasoline vehicles, mostly because the battery packs have been produced in small volumes. Higher vehicle prices are partially offset by the fact that fuel costs for battery electrics are about one-third those of a gasoline-powered vehicle. And because EVs have fewer moving parts than gasoline cars, they require less maintenance.
  • Performance. To the driver, a EV offers a quiet, smooth, and high-performance driving experience. The first-generation EVs had a real-world driving range of 50 to 80 miles. Battery advances now permit EVs to travel over a 100 miles on a charge, with future increases still possible.

 

Fuel Cell Types.....


All fuel cells contain two electrodes - one positively and one negatively charged - with a substance that conducts electricity (electrolyte) sandwiched between them.  Fuel cells can achieve 40 to 70 percent efficiency, which is substantially greater than the 30 percent efficiency of the most efficient internal combustion engines.  Differences in size, weight, cost and operating temperature all affect potential uses and for a variety of reasons, a number of fuel cell technologies are not practical for transportation.  The Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell is the focus of vehicle-power research.  The following are the major different types fuel cells:

  • Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM -- sometimes also called "polymer electrolyte membrane") - Considered the leading fuel cell type for passenger car application; operates at relatively low temperatures and has a high power density.
  • Phosphoric Acid - The most commercially developed fuel cell; generates electricity at more than 40 percent efficiency.
  • Molten Carbonate - Promises high fuel-to-electricity efficiencies and the ability to utilize coal-based fuels.
  • Solid Oxide - Can reach 60 percent power-generating efficiencies and be employed for large, high powered applications such as industrial generating stations.
  • Alkaline - Used extensively by the space program; can achieve 70 percent power-generating efficiencies, but is considered too costly for transportation applications.
  • Direct Methanol - Expected efficiencies of 40 percent with low operating temperatures; able to use hydrogen from methanol without a reformer.  (A reformer is a device that produces hydrogen from another fuel like natural gas, methanol, or gasoline for use in a fuel cell.)
  • Regenerative - Currently being researched by NASA; closed loop form of power generation that uses solar energy to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Additional information about fuel cell technologies is available from the U.S. Department of Energy.

 

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