Toyota's new hydrogen combustion engine

[CentralMass]

2. Using hydrogen is not efficient, economical, or comparatively environmentally friendly compared to

alternatives.

It takes about 48kWh of electricity to electrolyze 1kg of hydrogen and another 4 or 5 kWh to compress it, about 52kWh total.
One kg of hydrogen contains 33.4kWh of energy, the equivilent of one gallon of gasoline which contains 33.7kWh of energy. It requires 2X to 3X more electricity to produce hydrogen for a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle vs charging an EV and even more for use in an internal combustion engine running on hydrogen.


The Toyota Mirai Toyota's HFCV gets 66 mpg-e. Meaning it can travel 66 miles on 1kg of hydrogen. In CA, one of the few states with hydrogen fueling stations, hydrogen has ranged from about $16/kg to $26/kg over the last few years.

For comparison an efficient EV like the Tesla Model 3 gets 140 mpg-e and uses ~0.24 kWh/mile of electricity. On the same 52 kWh of electricity it takes to produce the 1kg of hydrogen that the Mirai can travel 66 miles on the Model 3 can travel
52kWh ÷ 0.24kWh/mile = 217 miles. Over three times as far.