Tesla First Hydrogen Cars

Today we will be telling you about the First Tesla car with a Hydrogen fueling system.

The first Tesla Hydrogen car was actually made by engineers who are not from Tesla.

Who made this car? Why does Elon Musk stand hydrogen car? And can these cars
ever be of competition to Tesla’s battery operated cars? Stay tuned till the end to find
out all about this.

First things first, let us find out Musk’s opinions on Hydrogen fuel cells

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has a long history of voicing strong views on hydrogen
and hydrogen fuel cells.

When the subject of hydrogen fuel cells came up during a debate with reporters at the
Automotive News World Congress a few years ago, the billionaire and electric vehicle
tycoon described them as "extremely silly."

“It’s just very difficult ... to make hydrogen and store it and use it in a car,” Musk said.
“The best-case hydrogen fuel cell doesn’t win against the current case batteries, so
then, obviously ... it doesn’t make sense,” he added later.

Musk's opinions don't appear to have changed much, if at all, since those remarks.
"Fuel cells = fool sells," he tweeted in June 2020, adding in July that year, "hydrogen
fool sells make no sense."

First and foremost, what is the technology that Musk appears to be so suspicious of?

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, also known as fuel cell electric vehicles, are "similar to
electric vehicles... in that they employ an electric motor rather than an internal
combustion engine to power the wheels," according to the US Environmental Protection
Agency.

Electric vehicles, on the other hand, contain batteries that must be charged by plugging
the vehicle into a charging station. Fuel cell vehicles, on the other hand, use hydrogen
gas and "generate their electricity onboard," according to the EPA.

Simply put, fuel cells produce energy by mixing hydrogen gas from a tank with oxygen.
According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center of the US Department of Energy, a fuel
cell electric car emits "only water vapor and warm air."

Now, let us talk about the Tesla model which was made compatible with
Hydrogen!

One of the most well-known electric vehicles on the market is the Tesla Model S. The
75D has a range of 416 kilometers, while the 100D and P100D have ranges of 539
kilometers and 506 kilometers, respectively. What if you wanted to take your Model S
on a longer journey? Sure, you could stop at one of Tesla's supercharger sites to
charge it, but what if you didn't have to stop and instead could travel for another 500-
600 kilometers? According to this team of geniuses, all that is required is a small
amount of hydrogen.

According to The Drive, the Holthausen Group, a gas supplier in the Netherlands, was
able to increase the maximum range of Tesla's Model S by effectively hacking in a
hydrogen power source. The company is the first in the world to produce a Tesla that is
both electric and hydrogen-powered. They even came up with a catchy name for it:
Project Hesla.

The Model S was purchased second-hand because Tesla was not involved in the
transaction. The Model S's system was described by Holthausen Group engineer Max
Holthausen as "a big maze" when it came to accepting hydrogen as a fuel source.
Holthausen had to devise and implement a solution, adding to the project's difficulty.

The team finally got it to work, and the Hesla now has two power sources. The first is a
battery that has already been installed, and the second is hydrogen stored in tanks
inside the car. The process is actually quite simple: hydrogen molecules are pushed into
a fuel cell, where an anode extracts their electrons, which then pass through a circuit to
the battery, providing it with additional charge. The hydrogen is subsequently reunited
with electrons at a cathode, where it combines with oxygen to form water and exits the
fuel cell. In comparison to the Model S P100D's stated range of 506 kilometers, the
Hesla's exceptionally efficient fuel cell allows it to drive nearly 1,000 kilometers with a
completely charged battery and full hydrogen supply.

So, what is the cost of Hydrogen fuel cells?

Hydrogen fuel cells are particularly expensive to manufacture since their designs
require the use of rare materials such as platinum as a catalyst. Former European
Parliament President Pat Cox claimed in 2014 that Toyota would lose $100,000 on each
Mirai sold at first. Since 2020, r esearchers at the Department of Chemistry at the
University of Copenhagen are working on a new type of catalyst that they think may
reduce the cost of fuel cells. Because the platinum nano-particles are not covered over
carbon, which maintains the nano-particles in place in conventional hydrogen fuel cells
but also causes the catalyst to become unstable and denature over time, requiring even
more platinum, this new catalyst consumes significantly less platinum.

Hopium’s Hydrogen Car

Hopium, a French firm, has created a stylish hydrogen-fueled sports car that it thinks
will compete with Tesla in the zero-emissions vehicle race.

Hopium debuted a prototype for their luxury car, the Machina, in June, led by French
racing driver Olivier Lombard. According to the business, the hydrogen-powered vehicle
has 500 horsepower and a range of 1,000 kilometers.

Customers will have to wait, as the car won't be available until 2025 at the earliest.

“It’s true that we are compared a lot with Tesla and our ambition is to have a higher-end
car and to try to have a big experience for the driver using hydrogen,” Lombard told
Euronews Next at the VivaTech 2021 conference in Paris.

He also said that he’s not here to have his company be compared to Tesla. In fact, he
said that he has taken a lot of inspiration from the automaker and aims to do business
like them.

Hopium has only made one prototype of the Machina so yet, the Alpha 0. The
production version of the Machina is expected to start deliveries in 2025, and the
business is presently taking deposits for the first 1,000 cars.

With increasing competition in the market, there may be one question left in your mind,
and that is which should be your ideal choice. Hydrogen or electric? Before we answer
that question, we would like to thank you for successfully making it till here! You can
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Hydrogen-electric comparison.
Hopium has called hydrogen “the future of the world”. The fuel cell technology on the
Machina converts oxygen and hydrogen into power while emitting only water.
Unlike batteries, hydrogen fuel cells do not store electricity. Instead, they get hydrogen from
a tank.

A high-end electric automobile, according to Lombard, may have a battery weighing 600-
700 kilograms. One disadvantage of electric vehicles is that their batteries contain materials
such as lithium and cobalt, which are mined in environmentally destructive ways.

The Machina's fuel cell, according to Lombard, included fewer "bad elements." It was
unclear whether Hopium's intended vehicle's "buffer battery" would be able to do the same.

Other than that, hydrogen cars are much faster to refuel as well. Imagine this, you are on
the road to go for a long drive in your electric car, and after 400 miles or so your battery is
getting drained. So, you stop at a charging station, and unless you are at a supercharger,
your car will take at least 45 minutes to 1 hour to get fully charged. On the other hand, a
hydrogen car, regardless of which kind of refueling station it may be has the ability to get
fully gassed in less than 5 minutes, making it much more convenient for traveling. Other
than that, a hydrogen model is also predicted to provide longer range than an electric car.

So, what is the one big disadvantage of a hydrogen car? It is the same that prevents many
of us buying the car of our dreams. Yes, you guessed it. It is the price! A hydrogen car is
considerably more expensive than an electric car. Almost 30-40% more, making it for only a
niche audience, in an already saturated market.

In the case of Hopium, their plans are to cater to the niche audience only, as they plan to
sell only 8000 vehicles a year by 2030, as compared to Tesla, which will probably cross the
5 million mark on a yearly basis. The Hopium is expected to be sold at $135,000 whereas
the Tesla Model S starts from a base price of $100,000.

While the battle for being the market leader keeps going on, Elon Musk believes that
electric vehicles are here to stay for the long run and cannot be replaced. Who do you
support in this battle between hydrogen and electric cars? Let us know in the comments
below. We’ll see you in our next video. Until then, goodbye!