Environmental prospects of “hydrogen” electricity for transport

One of the main problems of the present time is environmental pollution with harmful substances formed during the combustion of traditional hydrocarbon fuels in internal combustion engines that provide moving of vehicles.

This is felt especially acutely in large cities.

The solution is the transition to hybrid power units and electric vehicles, including the use of hydrogen as the most environmentally friendly fuel.

Therefore, consideration of the totality of the impact on the environment of both the replacement of cars with electric vehicles and the consequences of electricity generation is a relevant task.

But the environmental effect of using electricity in vehicles is usually considered only for areas of transport operation. However, the generation of electricity at power plants goes with air pollution.

The use of electric power in vehicles is possible, firstly, by means of charging traction batteries from external power grids transmitting electricity from power plants and, secondly, by means of on-board electricity generation using fuel cells, in which hydrogen serves as fuel, while the by-product is water. However, the electricity generation mainly occurs at thermal power plants by means of burning hydrocarbon fuel such as natural gas and coal, which leads to formation of harmful substances and their subsequent emission into the atmosphere. When generating electricity at nuclear power plants, a large amount of water vapor is released into the atmosphere, which has three times greater greenhouse effect compared to carbon dioxide. The operation of power plants with renewable energy sources (solar, wind) significantly depends on natural conditions, hydroelectric power plants also play an auxiliary role. The use of hybrid motor units allows the use of hydrogen in heat engines, the combustion products of which are water and nitrogen oxide. But there is no free hydrogen in nature, and its production is ensured mainly by steam conversion of methane, which goes with the formation of harmful substances and "greenhouse" gases. The use of liquefied hydrogen and liquid hydrogen carriers in transport also requires consuming of electricity, which leads to air pollution.

The value of this review lies in the evaluation of the cumulative impact of the technical solution to switch to the use of electric transport instead of motor vehicles on the environment.