Hybrid Cars Now, Fuel Cell Cars Later

doi:10.1126/science.1093965

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Hybrid Cars Now, Fuel Cell Cars Later

Nurettin Demirdöven¹ and John Deutch²^*

We compare the energy efficiency of hybrid and fuel cell vehiclesas well as conventional internal combustion engines. Our analysisindicates that fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen from fossilfuels offer no significant energy efficiency advantage overhybrid vehicles operating in an urban drive cycle. We concludethat priority should be placed on hybrid vehicles by industryand government.

¹ Technology and Policy Program, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. J.D. is a director of Cummins (a manufacturer of diesel engines) and an advisor to United Technologies Corporation, UTC Power, a fuel cell manufacturer.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jmd{at}mit.edu

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