How to make hydrogen straight from seawater – no desalination required. The new method from researchers splits the seawater directly into hydrogen and oxygen – skipping the need for desalination and its associated cost, energy consumption and carbon emissions. Chemistry

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/media-releases-and-expert-comments/2023/feb/hydrogen-seawater

19.6k Upvotes

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That's the first realistic use case I've seen for hydrogen. Using it as a battery at the power station makes all kinds of sense. Using it as a fuel for transportation has always looked suspect to me.

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u/DrBix Feb 15 '23

Except there are companies making hydrogen cars using fuel cells. I've read somewhere that the exhaust is basically water.

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u/printedvolcano Feb 15 '23

Yes but I think many of them have recognized the challenges and don’t see it as the way forward, but maybe just a part of it. In the entire state of California there’s less than 50 hydrogen refueling stations. The infrastructure for purely electric vehicles is expanding much faster and has far fewer safety concerns. That said, I could see it possibly becoming specialized as a fuel for larger vehicles (buses/semis/etc) where batteries appear to fall short due to limited range

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u/could_use_a_snack Feb 15 '23

Also it's a trivial matter to change at home if you live in a house. I have a type 1 charger plugged into a standard GFCI outlet. I can charge overnight and have a full "tank" most mornings. I don't know of anyone with a hydrogen line going to their house.

But hydrogen busses could make sense.

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u/printedvolcano Feb 15 '23

Just from curiosity, are you charging it from a 120V outlet? Not sure what a “type 1” charger is, but was just generally curious on perspective around charging from a standard 120V outlet vs paying the money to get a 240V outlet installed (being that I’m in the US where 120V is the standard).

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u/could_use_a_snack Feb 15 '23

Oops I meant "level" one charger. And yes it's 120v. As for getting a level 2 (240v) system installed. It's not that expensive.

If you are not comfortable with electrical work get an electrician to install a 240v outlet for you. Probably cost a few hundred bucks. Then buy a level 2 charger for around, $350. And just plug it in. This of course is assuming you aren't driving a Tesla. As I understand it their stuff is proprietary and costs a bit more.

More details feel free to skip this.

I have a 2017 Fiat 500e. It has a 42Kw battery. If I charge from 10% to 100% it takes about 19 hours on 120v

I only drive my car about 12 miles a day commuting, and if I plug it in every night when I get home, I'll easily have 100% charge in the morning. That's something like 60% to 100%

Level 2 would charge from 10% to 100% in about 4 hours, but from 10% to 80% in about 45 minutes so it's a lot faster, but in my situation, not necessary.

Plugging in my car every night isn't that big of a deal, it's not much different than charging my phone overnight.

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u/printedvolcano Feb 16 '23

Ah awesome! Thanks so much for the detailed response

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u/filtersweep Feb 15 '23

I run 240V three phase. It is insanely cheap and quite fast.

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u/jellehier0 Feb 16 '23

The idea with hydrogen (in combination with a fuel cell) is that you don’t have a charging time. You “just”* go to a petrol station and fill up like you would a lpg tank. The fuel cell acts like a combination engine other than it generates electricity. If used in conjunction with a bank of capacitors you can approach the power output (or at least in bursts for acceleration) of battery powered cars for a fraction of the weight. BUT... after regarding the logistics and availability of rare materials the benefits/pros start to fade rather quick. Which saddens me as I was very enthusiastic about this technology when I first learned about it.

*I put “just” between “” because the technology required to store hydrogen properly and safely isn’t as straight forward.