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The Truth about Hydrogen

12 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
5 HN users recommended this explainer5 months2018–2021 score 5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN links it in hydrogen threads as a clear breakdown of why compounded inefficiencies make hydrogen a poor fit for cars, though one commenter calls it outdated.

Real Engineering examines the efficiency of hydrogen as an energy carrier. It follows production, storage and fuel cell conversion losses and compares hydrogen cars with battery electric vehicles.

“This video gives a good breakdown on how the inefficiencies in hydrogen fuel cell based cars add up.” (HN, 2021)

5 recommendations · 2 citations · 1 critical · Explainers · partly dated

8 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@mcot2 Jan 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Nuclear power is the only green solution (2004)
I am sorry you are so misinformed. Lithium is a common abundant resource and battery packs are easily recycled but more importantly there is a financial incentive to do so. Manufacturing technology for cells is improving rapidly. Much faster than the pace of innovation in Hydrogen fuel cells. Most are focusing on reducing Cobalt and other techniques to reduce or eliminate chemicals and energy used in wet electrode processes. Hydrogen is pretty much DOA for cars. This is a good video on the subject: [this video]
Good video on hydrogen being poor for cars
@nuccy Sep 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Small nuclear reactors: tiny NuScale reactor gets safety approval
Hydrogen is not a good (at the moment at least) source of energy or fuel for cars or industry (chemically speaking, obviously much better together with Deuterium and Tritium for fission, though we are still from such a technology). Steam reforming, which is currently the most common way of hydrogen production, uses natural gas and water and produces plenty of CO2 [1]. Nice summary as for cars fuel application here [2]. [1] [link] [2] [this video]
Summary of hydrogen as car fuel
@rdedev Mar 2021 Recommends
on HN thread Toyota Develops Packaged Fuel Cell System Module for Hydrogen Utilization
[this video] This video gives a good breakdown on how the inefficiencies in hydrogen fuel cell based cars add up. The best case scenario for hydrogen based land transport I can think of is probably in the trucking industry where engine weight, range and refuelling time are important factors
Breakdown of how hydrogen fuel cell car inefficiencies add up

Citations, criticism and jokes

@agumonkey Oct 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Separating Hype from Hydrogen: EU's 6GW Electrolyzer Plan
This vid [this video] kinda says the same I like the H2 idea but it's really more complex than all electric it seems. And also late to the game. ps: to be fair, electric batteries and cars required a lot of faith to evolve and progress... who knows if someone won't come with a few innovations for H2 storage and distribution.
Says hydrogen is more complex than all-electric
@JProthero Oct 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Rivian S-1
> Finally, electric cars charge at ~96% efficiency, while hydrogen is something like 40%. >> This claim has little substance and credibility. The efficiency of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles versus battery vehicles is considered in some detail in this video [1]. The conclusion [2] is that, in the best case, the energy efficiency from power generation to road for existing or near future hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is about 25%, compared to about 65% for typical existing battery vehicles. [1] [this video] [2] [this video]
Compares hydrogen fuel cell and battery vehicle efficiency
@Hypx Jan 2020 Pushes back
on HN thread Nuclear power is the only green solution (2004)
[link] Li-ion batteries are very poorly recycled if at all. There is poor financial incentive to recycle batteries, and in fact you lose more money than you get back for many components. Pace of hydrogen fuel cell innovation is moving at warp speed: [link] We could see FCEVs no more expensive than ICEVs. > Hydrogen is pretty much DOA for cars. This is a good video on the subject: [this video] It's a nonsense youtube video, citing claims that are a decade out of date.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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