If we want our species to survive, the future needs to run on sustainable energy. Producing energy with the least amount of emissions is necessary to save our planet.
The future of the motor vehicle industry depends on the production of vehicles that run on sustainable energy with reduced emissions.
Tesla has taken the industry by storm by producing efficient, cost reduced electric vehicles. These sophisticated automobiles are quickly reaching for widespread adoption. Tesla dominance has driven other car companies to start their cost-efficient EV projects to enter the race.
There has been rising hype about “Blue Gas”. Blue Gas will allegedly take down the EV industry, which makes it a lucrative investment. Let’s find out how much truth there is to this claim.
But first, What IS Blue Gas?
Along with the race for finding alternative fuel sources, hydrogen vehicles have already been introduced to the market. Vehicles that run on hydrogen do so by fuel cells.
Fuel cells work like batteries. They turn a chemical fuel into energy and that fuel is hydrogen. Natural gas is reformed taking out all other “impurities” and leaving hydrogen.
The hydrogen currently used in fuel cells is grey hydrogen. Green hydrogen is another source created by renewable natural sources.
Blue Gas is hydrogen created by reforming a hydrogen source using a process that is different from the user to create grey variety.
This steam-reforming and carbon capture and storage process use natural gas to produce blue hydrogen that is used to create energy.
Is It An Environment-Friendly & Sustainable Energy Source?
Using hydrogen to create energy is great because it has zero carbon emission. Its byproducts are hot air and steam. This makes it very energy efficient.
However, the reforming process that creates grey hydrogen releases a high level of CO2 in the environment. Hydrogen production releases 830 million tonnes of CO2 every year. This makes hydrogen creation a crucial cause of environmental damage.
We can still use green hydrogen created from renewable sources – however, that is an expensive process.
This is where blue gas comes in. Production of blue hydrogen uses carbon capture and storage, which significantly cuts down the carbon emission. However, it still uses natural gas, a fossil fuel that is not a sustainable energy source.
Benefits Of Blue Gas
The use of blue gas doesn’t just help the environment. For a long time, electric vehicles have been fighting performance-related criticism.
The average vehicle range of conventional automobiles is about 412 miles. The latest EVs have only managed a range of up to 250 miles.
Automobiles running on blue gas have a range anywhere from 312 to 380 miles. This gives blue gas a hundred miles advantage over EVs regarding range.
Blue gas providing better speed and range makes it appealing to the long-haul vehicle industry. The time it takes to charge EVs and their limited range has been market barriers for Tesla. Blue gas vehicles can enjoy a competitive advantage in this industry as a substitute for conventional vehicles.
Is Blue Gas Marketable?
You can see in nobsimreviews article on Tesla’s downfall that that blue gas can be an incredibly marketable product. However, to make blue gas a marketable product, there are a few factors that need to be favorable.
1# Investments
The development of any technology requires committed investors. The technology that uses hydrogen has evolved in the automobile industry and we are already seeing cars running on hydrogen.
There has been a rise in fuel-cell stocks in the Asian and European markets. Stock investments can be profitable in large fuel-cell companies like FuelCell Energy Inc., Plug Power Inc., etc.
Investors can also invest in small companies working on producing better hydrogen run engines. Investment is required to increase the supply of both hydrogen and hydrogen run engines in the market.
A competitive and evolving hydrogen-based vehicle market can lead to efficient fuel-cells. Creating blue gas is an expensive process, hence more investors and technological development can cut down the costs.
2# Government Support
The government is supportive of any environmentally friendly and sustainable energy sources. With enough committed parties in the blue gas industry, it can get government attention.
However, government support is mandatory to make blue gas marketable. Natural gas is already used to produce a lot of grey hydrogen, but as mentioned before, the process is harmful to the environment.
The process of producing blue gas is expensive. If the government provides incentives and subsidies for the production of blue gas, more companies can enter the market. Market competition will push the companies to develop technology that makes blue gas production cheaper.
The government needs to encourage companies to reform natural gas into this eco-friendly variety as it will cut down CO2 emission drastically.
Will It Take Out Tesla?
Will Blue Gas bring an end to Tesla dominance? No. Tesla has revolutionized the use of electric cars. They made the technology more affordable, causing more people to adopt it.
Most importantly, their vehicles have received public acceptance. More and more charging stations are cropping up everywhere. Using Tesla is the “in” thing for the environmentally-conscious consumer.
Tesla is already creating a solid ground for their EVs. They have developed a neural network for their vehicles using their AI and machine learning algorithms.
They will use this constantly learning network to create self-driven vehicles that will dominate the future vehicle market. These supercars will drive better by learning from the experience of all their EVs connected to the network.
Solar Energy
The use of blue gas might be eco-friendly but it still uses natural gas, which is a fossil fuel. With the world population growing everyday, natural fuels are depleting. Blue gas might protect the environment but it does not provide long term energy solutions.
And even though Tesla is using government-produced electricity, they are moving towards developing renewable energy.
Elon Musk stands by his solar services providing subsidiary, SolarCity. He believes that his solar and energy storage business will grow faster than his electric car business.
This means that Musk is confident about the progress and growth of his energy business. If they manage to create affordable solutions for collecting and storing solar energy, electric cars will become the future.
Final Thoughts
The idea of using blue gas is not new. The hype is weak as blue gas will not take down Tesla. However, people and the environment can benefit from using blue gas.
If the government is willing to invest, then more people will join this hype and provide a solution for creating eco-friendly hydrogen. In the future, hydrogen driven cars will get a share of the market, and run on roads alongside EVs.