Why hydrogen shouldn't be the future of automotive.

Hydrogen, in my opinion is just a potentially superior version of an inferior product.

Neither hydrogen, nor gasoline belong in a car. At least, not in any future worth working toward. This doesn't mean that I see no future for hydrogen as a fuel source. In fact, far from it. I just don't think it belongs in the car.

One of the primary problems with hydrogen is the same as with gas; it is a fuel first and energy source second. Batteries can be effectively viewed as just the energy source part of the equation. Semantics can throw a wrench in this statement. But, it is true enough. And this is actually the primary reason why EVs are so reliable. Not having the need for an engine which converts a fuel source into energy greatly reduces the complexity of the system. It also means that you can use an "external engine" which consumes any fuel of your choice to provide the energy.

Basically, traditional fuels require you to provide an engine to convert that into energy. These are typically quite inefficient, and they also leave bound to a single fuel source.

While batteries aren't 100% efficient either, they are drastically more efficient than car engines. And, even gas or hydrogen power plants are more efficient than a car. So, it is much better to leave energy generation to power plants which scale better and are more efficient. 

Also, as stated, an EV battery doesn't care if the electricity was generated by gas or hydrogen or even solar or wind or really anything. 

We still have a lot of fossil fuel burning power plants. And, this sort of fuel based energy generation plays a crucial role in most grids because it can be generated when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't bowing and so forth. And this is where I expect hydrogen to be king and truly replace gas.

You shouldn't want an internal combustion engine of any sort. It robs you of choice and power.

Today it is certainly true that batteries and infrastructure aren't sufficient for everyone or for every scenario. So, I'm not saying YOU specifically should go out and buy an EV today. I don't know you or your circumstances. EVs can be expensive. Range isn't as good as gas vehicles. Charging times are long and onerous. Infrastructure can be spotty. But you should WANT an EV. And you should support this direction for the automotive industry. 

It takes an expensive, unreliable, monopolistic part of your car and replaces it with freedom. If you wish to continue consuming gasoline. I wouldn't recommend it. But, it is simply to make the point that with an EV you can literally power the vehicle with just about anything, including gasoline. Or hydrogen.

So... why then would you strap a hydrogen engine into your car? 

They are certainly more environmentally friendly than gasoline. But, they are expensive. And, with time the challenges facing EVs are being marginalized. Battery range is improving. There are many technologies in the works which could see range doubling or growing by even more. Infrastructure is improving. It really gets hard to justify any single fuel source as battery technology improves. 

Doubling the current battery range would, for me, automatically end the viability of a gasoline car. Twice the range of Kona for example would easily give me more than 700kms on a single charge even in winter. I'm not driving that far in a day. The longest distance I see myself driving in a typical road trip is about 500-600kms. There is only one place I would drive further than that before I consider flying. And the last time I did it, it was basically 3 days of 500-600kms. Easy.

And, some are claiming the ability to increase density tenfold in the coming decades.

In short, battery technology is in its infancy and it is already catching up to combustion engines despite them being quite mature.

Fuels belong in power plants where they can be consumed efficiently, and at scale. Cars should use batteries or some analogous energy storage system.