The majority of plusses and minuses were captured by previous respondents to this question.
- It doesn’t matter how clean the vehicle is if consumers don’t want it. If a national network can be established for hydrogen stations, FCVs might have an advantage over electric vehicles.
- Although EVs offer many benefits, range and charging times can still be a problem. I speak for myself as an owner of one and a huge fan. ).
- One respondent claims that the charging time for EVs is 45 minutes to an hour. You can charge them up to 80% at a DC fast-charger station in 30 minutes. However, you can’t put a DC fast charging station in your garage as they draw too much power for home installations. The time it takes to fully charge an EV using a Level 2 (240 volts) charger will take between 3-5 hours.
- Although charging an electric vehicle is transparent due to overnight charging at home, this advantage can be lost if the vehicle must be used for long distances. If you don’t have access to a home charger unit, or if your apartment is in a high-rise building.
- An FCV isn’t as efficient and “green” as an EV today because it requires more electricity to make hydrogen fuel than to charge a EV battery pack from the grid. Hydrogen production could be done with renewable electricity.
- Both FCVs as well as EVs are cleaner than gasoline or diesel vehicles when used on a well to wheel basis. This is based on the national average GHG emissions for electricity production.
- FCVs have smaller batteries than EVs and the fuel cell stacks are lighter. They weigh less than an equivalently equipped EV.
- Because fuel cell systems can be scaled more easily than battery-electric system, it is possible that we will see fuel-cell pickups in full-size cars and larger segments of vehicles. This is because full-size vehicles are too heavy to drive with the battery packs.
- Both EVs as well as FCVs will have a market place. It is absurd for those who love one to continue to criticize the other. For most of our daily commute, inter-city deliveries and people-moving, as well as longer distance travel, we will be using battery electrics.
- Finally, fuel-cell vehicles are just as entitled to be called electric vehicles as battery-electric ones. A fuel-cell vehicle’s hydrogen tanks and fuel cells replace the bulk of the battery packs that are used by a battery-electric car. Both types of vehicles are powered by the same electric motors once the electrons have started flowing. It is therefore more accurate to refer to battery electric vehicles as BEVs and fuel cell electric vehicles FCEVs, and to use the term “EV” for both. Just like PEV includes both plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles, so it is better to call EV both battery-electric and plug in hybrid-electric vehicles.