Hydrogen vs. Battery Electric Cars

Let's compare the Tesla-3 and the Toyota Mirai.

I’ll use kWh per 100 miles to make the numbers easier to compare.


Tesla-3

The Tesla-3 does 4.4 miles per kWh.
That’s 22.73 kWh per 100 miles driven by the car from the battery

Charging is 94% efficient (some report 99% for 400v chargers).
So that’s 24.18 kWh per 100 miles at the wall socket.

The UK electric grid is 92% efficient at the wall socket (via 5x transformers).

So that’s 26 kWh per 100 miles at the power station.


Mirai

The Mirai does 400 miles on a tank according to Toyota.
(Journalists put it at only 280 miles, but we’ll be generous).

The hydrogen tank on a Mirai has a capacity of 5.6 kg of hydrogen
So the Mirai uses 1.4 Kg of hydrogen per 100 miles.

The energy density of Hydrogen is 33.6 kWh per kg
So the energy used by the Mirai per 100 miles is 47.04 kWh.
(that’s already more than double the Tesla).

I’ll ignore the energy used to go to the local gas station.
So that’s 47.04 kWh at the local gas station.

I'll ignore the truck journey from the power station to the gas station.
So that’s 47.04 kWh at the power station.

BUT the hydrogen is distributed as a liquid in insulated trucks.
Liquefaction consumes more than 30% of the energy content of the hydrogen.
So that’s 67.2 kWh at the power station before it’s liquefied.

Making hydrogen by electrolysis is only 50% efficient.

So that’s 134 kWh as electricity at the power station

That’s 5x worse than the Tesla.