Glickenhaus Ready To Prove Hydrogen Has A Future

Hydrogen has been a bit on the back-foot with the rise in demand for electromobility currently being driven by the world's largest manufacturers. Glickenhaus is swimming against the stream with its new boot technology which employs cryogenic supercritical fuel cells. It's so confident in its abilities that it has challenged the Tesla Cybertruck to a race in the sands.

The piece of equipment has been mated to a Baja 1000 race vehicle, which makes it the first-ever zero-emissions product in its segment. Glickenhaus explains that major car companies are investing heavily in EV tech but argues that this direction is an oversight. The company believes that batteries and fuel cells will both likely have a part to play in the future of eco-mobility with each system bearing its unique strengths and weaknesses. Thus, the two technologies should be used together to cover one another's flaws.

The company explains that, from a total systems efficiency point of view, the idea is that using renewable energy to charge battery electric vehicles does seem like a more efficient approach. However, it argues that by looking at the overall industrial scale, there is not enough renewable energy available to recharge a worldwide fleet of electric vehicles.

Hydrogen enters the sphere as the ideal supplementary fuel source because it benefits from a larger Megajoules of energy per kilogram figure. The average battery can store 0.5 MJ/kg while hydrogen boasts a figure of 12 MJ/kg. As a result, the battery system should not be seen as a replacement for liquid hydrocarbon fuels.