The pros and cons of hydrogen cars

Science : Last month, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) was putting the brakes on research into automotive hydrogen fuel cells.Chu cites the cost and durability of vehicle fuel cells, the inability to store large volumes of hydrogen fuel, the absence of a carbon-free way of generating the hydrogen, and the need to build a nationwide refueling infrastructure.The issue came down to a simple question, says Chu: “Is it likely in the next 10 or 15 or even 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen-car economy? The answer, we felt, was no."But many scientists and energy experts believe Chu asked the wrong question and, therefore, made the wrong call.No alternative-vehicle technology will make a major impact on carbon emissions, petroleum use, or anything else within the next 20 years, they say, because it takes longer than that for a new technology to displace what is already on the road.In the long run, they say only two technologiesâmdash;hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehiclesâmdash;are capable of getting the job done. And only one variation, plug-in hybrids, will be on the market anytime soon."There are uncertainties with both these technologies,” says Joan Ogden, who heads the sustainable transportation energy program at the University of California, Davis. “So the idea of taking one off the table seems shortsighted.”