Everyone in the auto industry is looking for the element that will replace gasoline. We need a fuel replacement that will give us good mileage, protect our environment, and not cause us to have to replace expensive parts in our vehicle. Hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table making up about 90% of the atoms in the world today. Hydrogen as an alternative fuel holds the potential to provide cleaner power. When you think of the rain, the snow, the oceans, all the basis of the planet then you understand hydrogen as an alternative fuel.

Researchers are basically focusing on the development of hydrogen fuel cells. There are some hydrogen powered internal combustion engines; however, it seems that industry is not interested in producing vehicles that will run on hydrogen. In most cases it has been found that to generate hydrogen is very expensive. It seems that storing and handling hydrogen can become expensive as well. Hydrogen has fairly low energy content in gaseous state and does not easily burn efficiently in an internal combustion engine. In order to gain any driving distance hydrogen needs to be liquefied or highly compressed and stored in a high pressure tank. The process in producing the product cost far more than the process of refining oil for gasoline. The danger in hydrogen is far more hazardous than the danger in gasoline. Hydrogen requires careful handling and special storage tanks which makes putting it on the open market very unlikely. It seems no service station wants to have hydrogen as a fueling system for resale because of the risk it causes.

Manufacturers find that hydrogen is very clean fuel which makes it very acceptable by environmentalist. Hydrogen only by-product is water vapor which has no effect on our atmosphere and leaves no unpleasant odor. Even though hydrogen is dangerous to store and handle it still has an excellent safety record as far as the industrial climate is concerned. In America today and around the world it has been discovered that hydrogen is extracted from water which makes it a plentiful resource. Since it is not from any gas substance and it gives off only water vapor the emission problem is nonexistent. Hydrogen shows a good potential for our future in fuels for hybrid vehicles once the hurdle of finding safer ways of storing and maintaining has been accomplished. Our researchers are seeking better storage methods and microspore storage seems to be very promising. We may start to see more hydrogen driven vehicles in the near future.