I hadn't realised until very recently that most hydrogen produced comes from coal: https://www.google.com/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/explain...
Most of the time it isn't a green fuel at all and is just a way to keep mining coal.
Most of the time it isn't a green fuel at all and is just a way to keep mining coal.
https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-hydrogen
See section on production.
The most commonly used process creates a mixture of steam, hydrogen and CO2. The water is condensed and the CO2 removed to purify the hydrogen product. The CO2 is a concentrated stream. This is sometimes captured and sold as a byproduct (eg food grade CO2 for beverages or dry ice).
https://newatlas.com/energy/hysata-efficient-hydrogen-electr...
In the past most catalyst improvements have run into problems with maintenance.
With the added benefit of not requiring an overhaul of the electrical grid to be able to handle everyone charging their cars.
EVs are nice in short term but battery issues like these illustrate their (should be obvious) shortcomings.
WRT to this battery technology, ironically the same sector being targeted by hydrogen might benefit, i.e. rail tech - if you stick a high number of cheap batteries onto a large, heavy motorcar, the energy differential is almost negligible as you make up for it in part through momentum, but also just scale (more passengers transported per watt, more charge available per trip).
Much lower up front investment and none of the huge downsides of nuclear.