The Government is betting on hydrogen cars in vocational training.

BarcelonaThe Department of Education and Vocational Training has reached an agreement with Applus+ IDIADA to enhance teaching about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles among vocational training students at the Andreu Nin High School in El Vendrell. The agreement provides for the internationally renowned company in vehicle design, testing, and approval to provide specific training to the school's teachers to enhance content related to hydrogen cars, as well as the free provision of engines, vehicles, and other materials necessary for practical training with students.

This is not the first time that Applus+ IDIADA, which has a world-leading test track for new vehicles and prototypes, has collaborated with several nearby educational centers. In the last two years, it has hosted a total of 267 dual vocational training interns from nine high schools in the Penedès region, half of whom have eventually joined the staff. The big news is that this collaboration now aims to go further, including content on green hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles in the advanced automotive training cycle and in the specialized course on hybrid and electric vehicle maintenance. The plan of the Department of Education and Vocational Training and Applus+ IDIADA is to conduct a prospective and analyze the results of this collaboration to extend the experience to other Catalan training centers.

With this initiative, the Government aims to advance future needs around sustainable mobility and decarbonization goals. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are one of the real alternatives to current combustion models, although currently only two Asian manufacturers (Toyota and Hyundai) have vehicles for sale that use hydrogen as an alternative to combustion-powered cars, and this technology is still practically nonexistent among major European manufacturers.

What are hydrogen cars and how do they work?

Hydrogen or fuel cell cars are, in fact, electric cars, that is, driven by an electric motor that sends power to the wheels. The big difference with plug-in electric vehicles is precisely that their electrical power does not come from the electricity stored in batteries but is obtained from the energy provided by hydrogen.

These types of vehicles run thanks to a reservoir of internal fuel powered by the oxidation of hydrogen with water, which releases electrical energy converted into the electricity that powers the battery. The most representative models of this type of technology—the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell—have a real-world range of 600 km, making them truly competitive compared to conventional models. Furthermore, unlike plug-in electric vehicles, it is not necessary to wait long to fill up the hydrogen tank, and they do not suffer the progressive degradation of lithium batteries that plug-in electric vehicles exhibit.

Unfortunately, hydrogen fuel cells have a dark side that makes their widespread implementation difficult (and sometimes impossible). First, fuel cells require pure hydrogen, which is not found naturally on the planet and must be artificially created from natural gas. Second, a large amount of CO is released during the hydrogen production process.₂, since the electrolysis required to obtain hydrogen from water requires large amounts of energy, which increases the cost of production and the final price of green hydrogen. This way, large cities would be freed from much of the polluting fumes and gases, which would be transferred to the hydrogen production center, and the effect on the atmosphere would be equally polluting. The only solution to avoid emitting polluting gases in the hydrogen production process is to do so using renewable energy sources, and for the hydrogen obtained to end up having a final price that makes it a real alternative for the end customer.