Hydrogen versus batteries: How complicated is filling hydrogen and charging batteries – Garáž.cz

One of the reasons that discourages many interested parties from switching to electromobility is precisely charging. If you are used to filling the tank of your internal combustion engine until the blink of a “hungry eye” then just stop for a while at the nearest gas station (or drive a short distance to the cheapest one), fill it up in a few minutes and whiz away merrily again, you will into the electric car for some time to get used to new arrangements and learn new skills.

Even if you have the advantage of charging at home or at work, which will make your life with an electric car much simpler and cheaper, you will still have to plan a little for each longer trip. Which involves using several mobile apps and owning several chips, organizational talent and a certain amount of patience are also prerequisites. But things are changing fast…

From the Hyundai car company to the new Ioniq (the same applies to other manufacturers), you will receive a magical Charge myHyundai card, which unites most providers in the Czech Republic and throughout Europe, whose chargers you have not only in the mobile application, but also directly in the car’s navigation system – just enter the destination of your trip and the car will automatically plan the route for you, including optimal charging, if necessary. At the charger, you just connect the cable, identify yourself with the card (or even without it, because electric Hyundais with some operators can do this automatically after connecting the cable thanks to the plug&charge function) and charge. And in the meantime, you can go to the toilet and drink a coffee in peace, or check your e-mails comfortably seated in the reclining seat – you will have plenty of time for that. Although probably less than you think…

“Refueling” the Nexo is a more familiar and significantly faster process. You arrive at the filling station, connect the hose (although it will take a bit of fiddling at first), start pumping and in a few minutes you have a full one. Almost like a gas station…

The biggest problem is that you will have to drive a bit to get to the filling station. In fact, there is probably a lot to cover – three are currently operational in the Czech Republic (Prague, Ostrava, Litvínov and Mstětice near Prahy), within three years there should be 12, and even 40 by 2030. But further development depends primarily on the utilization of the current ones and the number of FCEV vehicles (not only cars, but also vans, trucks and buses) on Czech roads. At the same time, the estimates of the Ministry of Transport speak of 50,000 vehicles by 2030, but we would be more cautious in our enthusiasm, which is why we do not believe in such an intensive development of the filling infrastructure (although we are partly obliged to do so by EU requirements).

Electric chargers are literally growing like mushrooms after the rain – there are currently 1,400 stations with almost three thousand charging points available in the Czech Republic. This number is growing literally every day, slower AC chargers as well as high-performance DC hyperchargers are being built. Energy companies, which most often build and operate them, feel the business potential in it. And for those interested in electric cars, it gives them the confidence that they will be able to recharge wherever they live or wherever they go.

Shops, hotels or even restaurants are quickly catching on to the trend of developing charging stations, chargers will also be near administrative buildings and apartment buildings, so that a charging cable will always be at hand. In this way, the fear of a limited range will completely disappear, in fact even the maximum range will become a purely virtual value – because you will continuously recharge during the week and on the road you will stop more often to visit the toilet or to stretch your back / take the children out than just to charge. By this time, most electric cars will support high-power charging, so waiting at the charger won’t delay you much. And this is not a utopian vision of the distant year 2030, but a vision of reality of a significantly earlier date.

So “refueling” a hydrogen car is really faster than charging the battery and probably always will be, but when you add the time loss of a detour to a filling station tens of kilometers away, it doesn’t look so advantageous anymore.

For that, charging battery electric cars should always be faster (better battery technology, higher charging performance of chargers), simpler (constant development of the infrastructure) and more convenient (no card will be needed in the future, you just connect the cable and the car will solve everything automatically). It is therefore quite likely that no one will miss visits to “smelly” and “dirty” gas stations in the future.