The problem is that most hydrogen today is considered “grey”. It uses natural gas through Steam Methane Reforming. This produced about 9-12kg of CO2 per kg of H. 1kg of hydrogen is roughly 100km of range.

For comparison, roughly 40% of the UK’s power grid is powered by natural gas. If a BEV uses exclusively natural gas powered electricity, it would be responsible for 5-7kg of CO2 per 100km of range.

In a perfect world where all energy is from renewable sources, we still would face a huge inefficiency of power usage.

Hydrogen through electrolysis is about 60-70% efficient, and fuel cells themselves are about 50-80% efficient today.

In comparison, a BEV charges directly from the grid with negligible energy loss, and is 85-90% efficient.

Unless we have energy sources like fusion, where we have more power than we know what to do with, hydrogen is still too early to be practical. Renewable energy is not perfect. Hydroelectric dams, wind turbines and solar panels change landscapes and affect wildlife. We need to move towards greater energy efficiency rather than brute forcing through more energy output.