Is Hydrogen the Future of Motoring?

The opening of the UK's first public refuelling station for hydrogen vehicles in Swindon is part of efforts to create a "hydrogen highway" along the M4 motorway.  It is also seen as an important step in a UK-wide scheme to make hydrogen vehicles a viable alternative to petrol-driven cars.

"A hydrogen car is much cleaner than a conventional car," says Professor Kevin Kendall, a hydrogen and fuel cell expert from Birmingham University.  "This will clean up our cities enormously," he says in an interview with BBC News. "No emissions whatsoever." 

Professor Kendall believes fuel cell cars will change the way we drive Hydrogen-powered cars rely on a fuel cell that takes oxygen from the air and combines it with hydrogen from a tank to create electricity.  The electricity is used to power electric motors, which turn the car's wheels.  As such, hydrogen-powered cars can be seen as electric vehicles that are not held back by the limited range of batteries.

"Your electric battery car does 60 miles [100km], this does 300 miles. It fills in five minutes rather than five hours," says Professor Kendall.  "This is the one for the future, there's no doubt in my mind."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14979817