Skip to main content
Jorge Muñoz, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at El Paso. Photo: J.R. Hernandez / UTEP Marketing and Communications A 3d display of a simulated High Luminosity LHC collision event as seen by the ATLAS inner tracking detector (ITk). Image: Atlas Collaboration. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles: How they Work Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are similar to electric vehicles in that they use an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine to power the wheels. However, while electric vehicles run on batteries that must be plugged in to recharge, FCEVs generate their electricity onboard. In a fuel cell, hydrogen gas from the vehicle’s fuel tank combines with oxygen from the air to generate electricity with only water and heat as byproducts of the process. Fueling a hydrogen FCEV is similar to refilling a vehicle’s gas tank, but using a nozzle from a designated hydrogen dispenser at a public station. Refueling times are also similar: FCEVs can be refueled in as little as 5 minutes. Some FCEVs can go more than 300 miles on one tank of hydrogen fuel — greater than the distance from St. Louis to Chicago — and fuel economy close to 70 MPGe (miles per gasoline gallon equivalent). For more details about hydrogen FCEVs and how they work, visit this U.S. Environmental Protection Agency information site.
Computing Sciences logo

Connect

Our Organization