At a fork in the road: Do hydrogen cars offer a better future than electric?

Sales of battery electric cars (BEVS) are on the rise across Europe and according to the annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook, more are sold each week now than in the whole of 2012.

But despite the increasing popularity, shortages of key components for batteries, including lithium, nickel and cobalt, could threaten supply. So, is it time to focus on hydrogen-based energy?

In contrast to Europe where there are only a handful of hydrogen cars for sale and around 228 refueling stations, Asia is betting on hydrogen.

The Japanese government plans to have 800,000 hydrogen vehicles on roads by 2030 while China has set an ambitious target of 1 million by 2035.

These early movers are likely to bring down costs, increase volume and develop the supply chain.

Carmakers, too, remain divided and, with the exception of Toyota and Hyundai, few are investing heavily in hydrogen. More recently though, BMW are renewing their interest and see a role for hydrogen-powered cars to fit alongside battery-electric ones.

They plan to launch a small number of BMW iX5 Hydrogen cars around the world from the end of this year for test purposes initially.

"As a versatile energy source, hydrogen has a key role to play on the road to climate neutrality," said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.

The Stellantis group has also undertaken limited production of commercial hydrogen vans. But not everyone agrees; Mercedes have shelved plans to bring hydrogen fuel cell cars to market as have Audi.

To put it simply a battery-electric vehicle is powered by electricity stored in a battery and is recharged by plugging into the electricity grid.

A hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle produces its own electricity through a chemical reaction in its fuel