Speaking before an enthusiastic audience last Saturday afternoon at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at the National Harbor in Maryland, President Donald J. Trump implied hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) are safety concerns but did not provide precise evidence.
Advocating for consumer choice regarding powertrain types, Trump soon turned his attention towards FCEVs.
"And if you want an electric car, get an electric car. If you want a gasoline powered car, if you want to have a hybrid, you get it. The only thing you can't do is a hydrogen-powered car. You know ... they said it really works great. But when it doesn't work, you never find the body. That's a bad sign," the president said.
Trump added, without stating to which incident he was referring, that "they found the body on a tree about 250 yards up the road. It's seriously bad. So we'll leave hydrogen out of it for a little while."
No loss of life
To date, there has not been a recorded incident in any country involving a hydrogen-powered vehicle explosion where there was loss of human life.
A recent incident involving an FCEV happened in South Korea when a Hyundai-built public bus partially exploded at a depot following a charging session. There were no passengers onboard but three individuals were wounded, none seriously.
[Related: Hydrogen-powered bus explosion raises safety concerns]
While it's certainly possible Trump was simply mistaken, there is another influential factor to consider: Elon Musk, the world's richest person.
Musk, CEO of battery-electric automaker Tesla along with SpaceX and X (formerly known as Twitter), has a new advisory role in the Trump administration, leading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Vowing to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government workforce and overall spending, Musk has the president's ear on a long list of issues, including powertrain technologies.
Musk previously called hydrogen fuel cells "mind-bogglingly stupid," and tweeted in late 2021 that "It's time for politicians to accept science. Green hydrogen is needed for steel, chemical, aero ... and should not end up in cars."
Trump seems to have listened.
FCEV truck startups
Following Nikola Motor's Chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement last week — along with the recent downfall of additional FCEV truck manufacturers such as Hyzon Motors — the president is not entirely wrong in his criticism of the technology for powertrain use.
[Related: Nikola Motors, once a Wall Street darling, files for bankruptcy]
Legacy brands Hyundai and Toyota sell FCEV passenger vehicles but they're only available in California, which announced late last year it will spend $1.4 billion to build new public hydrogen refueling stations and EV chargers. The downside is that, outside of the Golden State, hydrogen-powered passenger cars are essentially useless due to a lack of stations.
In heavy-duty applications, Hyundai's Xcient FCEV semi is operating in some overseas markets and was recently deployed in Georgia, where the OEM has a production plant, to transport vehicle parts from regional suppliers to the factory. It is not yet available for fleets.
The Kenworth T680 FCEV Class 8 semi is set to launch later this year. Announced in 2023, this legacy brand offering could help turn the tide by proving the technology's validity in terms of cost, safety and overall reliability.
Startups like Nikola have yet to accomplish this.
Meanwhile, the battery-electric Tesla Semi is slated to begin series production this year. Tesla is completing construction of a new Nevada factory capable of churning out up to 50,000 Semis annually. Details leaked last week about Tesla's first Megacharger station built specifically for the Semi.
Hydrogen's future
What's clear under this administration is it will no longer subsidize charging stations and offer EV tax credits included in 2022's Inflation Reduction Act, preferring instead to let the free market determine the outcome. Former President Joe Biden's Department of Energy announced a $750 million grant last March to projects in 24 states building the capacity to produce and use clean hydrogen. Chris Wright, Trump's energy secretary, could reverse that grant and others.
[Related: Trump EPA orders review of California emission waivers]
Given hydrogen's inability to expand beyond California and to become an affordable and viable alternative fuel to diesel-powered rigs, Trump's comments are not surprising.
It could be up to the legacy truck manufacturers to prove Trump (and Musk) wrong.
