Hydrogen-powered cars are no longer just a thing of the future – they’re here now

They might not be flying cars or hyperloops but hydrogen-powered cars, which were once a ‘thing of the future’, are now a reality on some Queensland roads and playing a part in the race towards net zero emissions.

It’s been centuries in the making with the technology behind hydrogen-powered vehicles dating back to the 1800s when Swiss inventor Francois Isaac de Rivaz used a balloon filled with hydrogen and oxygen to power a four-wheel vehicle.

It wasn’t until 1966 that the first mainstream hydrogen fuel cell vehicle was created by General Motors and interest in hydrogen-powered cars grew in the 1970s with fears around the availability of oil.

Fast forward to 2001 which was a pivotal year for the viability of hydrogen cars when the first large scale hydrogen storage tanks were unveiled – reducing the size of fuel tanks and extending the potential driving range of fuel cell vehicles.

By the late 2000s hydrogen cars were launched into the global market and in August 2021 the first hydrogen-powered cars hit Queensland roads as part of the state government’s fleet.

There’s a lot of interest in hydrogen cars and rightfully so – their only emission is water. But it might be a while yet until you are able to pop down to a car dealership and purchase your first hydrogen-powered car.

In Australia the technology is only available through leases, and not available to the general public. However, Toyota has already said that its Mirai hydrogen car might be available for purchase ‘within two to three years’.

To make hydrogen-powered cars a reality for Queenslanders, we need to ensure we have adequate refueling points available.

The Queensland Government is already planning to ensure we have the infrastructure in place to get you from A to B. Queensland company, H2H Energy, has already built the state’s first hydrogen bowser in the Redlands.

In 2021 Fortescue Future Industries announced it would build one of the world’s largest electrolyser manufacturing plants in Gladstone, a town at the cusp of a renewable energy boom.

This means a future with Queensland fuel bowsers flowing with locally-produced green, or renewable hydrogen, is just around the corner.