Do hydrogen powered cars cause pollution?

Hydrogen powered vehicles work thanks to a hydrogen fuel cell, which produces electricity from hydrogen. These vehicles do not emit any greenhouse gases when running; all they give off is water vapour.

While the vehicles themselves do not give off any pollution when running, the way the hydrogen that powers them is produced can sometimes cause pollution. Historically, hydrogen has mostly been produced from fossil fuels, using a process that emits CO2.

However, the production of decarbonised hydrogen that is being encouraged by the French government, by the electrolysis of water, has now emerged as a clean production method. Cars and other vehicles fuelled with this hydrogen are therefore truly non-polluting.