Clean and Efficient Transportation With Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

Introduction

One of the biggest problems of our era is global warming. Studies conducted by scientists on this subject show that human beings have dragged the world they live into uninhabitable with their own hands. Today, the use of renewable energy is supported by the governments of the countries, and intensive studies are carried out on increasing energy efficiency. In scientific research, it is estimated that the energy-based CO₂ emission rate will increase by 20% in 2035, which means that the earth's temperature will increase by 3.6 °C on average in the long run. It is seen that this value, which is determined as 2 °C at the international level, is well above the target (Karlsson et al., 2020) (Li & Zhang., 2009). Global warming causes the earth's temperature to increase by 0.3 °C on average every ten years, and this causes an average of 150,000 deaths per year. An average increase of 2 °C in the earth's temperature is a severe problem that will expose millions of people to hunger, malaria, flood disasters, and freshwater scarcity (Kovats & Haines 2005). The severity of this situation has made it necessary to turn to renewable energy sources in order to reduce the number of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere all over the world. There are many measures that can be taken to reduce greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. One of them is to reduce the use of fossil fuels. The transportation sector is known as one of the largest fuel consumers in the global energy market. Currently, there are approximately 1 billion vehicles in the world and most of these vehicles are based on fossil fuels. In many families, each individual has his own vehicle. This situation has considerably increased the number of motor vehicles in traffic. The environmental damage caused by fossil fuels used in motor vehicles is too great to be ignored. Nowadays, it has become necessary to use nature-friendly, renewable resources instead of fossil energy resources, whose reserves are decreasing and polluting the environment. In addition, the orientation towards clean and sustainable energy sources is a very effective driving force for the continuation of economic development and improvement of living conditions. Studies show that electric vehicles create less pollution than vehicles using fossil fuels (Verma et al., 2021). This gives even better results if the electric vehicle is charged with electricity produced entirely from renewable energy. For this reason, electric vehicles attract a lot of attention around the world and many improvements are being made in this area. When examining electric vehicle technology, it is seen that it is much more advanced than its counterparts designed 10 years ago. In this context, when the studies on electric vehicles are examined, it is quite remarkable the way fuel cell technology has been covered in automobile applications. The applications of PEM fuel cells in electric vehicles are increasing day by day and are the subject of many R&D studies. Studies conducted today show that among the electric vehicles targeted for widespread use in the future, fuel-cell electric vehicles will effectively exist.