As we all know, the number one contributor to pollution is vehicles. This is the reason why Germany has presented the world's first train that runs fully on hydrogen power. This is the country's way of curbing emissions that are harmful to the environment. The train's batteries are made of lithium-ion, and they are entirely pollution free. Lithium-ions are used in home appliances and cellphones.
The train is made of fuel cells that create electricity through chemical reactions that are made by hydrogen molecules that are found in water. This means that it does not emit any carbon dioxide, only water droplets and steam. You also do not need to worry about its speed because this new train can run at 140 km per hour.
Manufactured by Alstom, these magnificent trains are called Coradia iLint trains, with a nickname Hydrail. Alstom claims that these trains can carry 300 passengers per trip, and they make little to no noise. It can also run 1,000 km on one tank of hydrogen, and the excess energy is all stored in the batteries that are made of lithium-ions.
Even though Germany is the first country to introduce these hydrogen trains, Alstom stated that they received demands from other countries as well, including the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Germany will have 14 more hydrogen trains running in the coming months.
Although these trains are more expensive than the traditional diesel-fueled trains, the benefits that we can get from them are far more important. If we sum up the price of the train and its overall expenses in the future, it will show that it is cheaper than the traditional trains because it has rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The train costs $7 million each.
Hydrogen has a lot of benefits, especially when it comes to the environment. It greatly reduced pollution, hydrogen is produced from different resources, and it is produced from water, which is a sustainable resource. This is just the start of hydrogen-fueled transportation; soon, we will have cars that use hydrogen. This will definitely be good for the environment, and it can help clean our air and heal our ozone layer.
Vehicles that run on hydrogen may be more expensive than those that run on diesel, but with the cost of production, the distribution, the benefits, and technical advances, these types of vehicles will become increasingly affordable. With the partnership of businesses and the government, we can obtain a sustainable energy economy.
