What is a fuel cell vehicle?
A fuel cell vehicle (FCV) is an electric vehicle that uses a fuel cell rather than a battery to provide electricity that powers motors at the wheels. While a battery must be recharged after all its fuel has reacted; a fuel cell is a "refillable battery"—filling the fuel tank recharges the vehicle. The fuel cell onboard the vehicle produces electricity directly from the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. FCVs can be twice as efficient as similarly sized conventional vehicles. They can also be equipped with other advanced technologies to increase efficiency, such regenerative braking systems that capture the energy lost during braking and store it in an upsized battery.
What is a fuel cell?
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that produces electricity by separating the fuel (generally hydrogen gas) via a catalyst. The protons flow through a membrane and combine with oxygen to form water-again with the help of a catalyst. The electrons flow from the anode to the cathode to create electricity. As long as the reactants—pure hydrogen and oxygen—are supplied to the fuel cell, it will produce electrical energy.
The diagram below shows the basic components of a hydrogen-fueled FCV. Roll your mouse over each component to learn more.
How do you fuel a fuel cell vehicle?
FCVs can be fueled with pure hydrogen gas stored directly on the vehicle in tanks or extracted from a secondary fuel, like methanol, ethanol, or natural gas that carries oxygen. These secondary fuels must first be converted into hydrogen gas by an onboard device called a reformer. FCVs fueled with pure hydrogen emit no pollutants—only water and heat—vehicles that use secondary fuels and a reformer produce only small amounts of air pollutants.
When will fuel cell vehicles be available?
FCVs have quickly moved from the laboratory to the road. As with other electric-drive vehicles, fuel cell cars are quiet, smooth, fun to drive, and should have the same range as conventional vehicles. Fuel cell buses are already operating in a number of U.S. cities. Automakers, fuel cell developers and suppliers, government agencies, national laboratories, and others are working hard to accelerate the introduction of FCVs through partnerships such as the DOE-led FreedomCAR initiative.
Learn more about NREL's advanced vehicles and fuels research in the fuel cell vehicle arena.
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