r/HydrogenSocieties

This quote from the article:

>The automaker is exploring multiple alternative powertrain technologies rather than relying on a single solution for every transport task. The choice of technology depends on the requirements of individual routes and operations, including vehicle utilization, reliability, emissions, operating costs and access to the necessary energy infrastructure.

>Battery-electric trucks, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen combustion engines each have different technical and operational characteristics. BMW’s approach is to determine which option is best suited to a particular application based on practical performance and measurable data.

And this quote:

>Dirk Wiedmann, head of Production Network and Logistics at BMW Group, said the company is taking a technology-neutral, data-driven approach to selecting alternative truck powertrains.

Represent the very same arguments www.respectmyplanet.org has used for over 15 years to debunk anti-hydrogen bashers like Michael Liebreich, Michael Barnard, Joe Romm, Mark Jacobson, Zach Shahan, Fred Lambert, and so many more.

If anyone tells you just one technology is all you need and the science is settled, they're either lying to you or don't understand energy.

You don't have to hate batteries to support hydrogen, far from it. Hydrogen supporters recognize the importance of batteries. Why do so many anti-hydrogen battery bots on places like Reddit and tech comment sections spew so much hate toward hydrogen?

Every time I post something here that is even remotely positive about hydrogen—especially anything involving fuel-cell vehicles—I can almost set my watch by what happens next.

Within minutes, the usual hydrogen-response squad appears:

“But why would you waste electricity making hydrogen?”

“Just put the electricity directly into a battery!”

“Hydrogen is only 50% efficient!”

“Why would anyone use a fuel cell when batteries exist?”

And, of course, approximately 47 variations of the same argument, carefully rearranged so that the conclusion remains unchanged: hydrogen is stupid, batteries have already won, and apparently the entire world just hasn't gotten the memo yet.

So I have a modest question.

What, exactly, are we supposed to make of China?

Not Germany. Not Toyota. Not BMW. Not some hydrogen startup with a PowerPoint presentation.

China.

The country that has absolutely demolished the rest of the world in solar manufacturing.

The country that dominates battery manufacturing.

The country that has built an enormous EV industry.

The country that has built a massive renewable-energy manufacturing ecosystem.

The country that has become the world's largest EV market.

The country that has spent years scaling technologies that everyone else said couldn't possibly become cheap enough to matter.

And now that same country is going absolutely bananas on hydrogen.

At some point, doesn't this become an interesting data point?

Because according to the conventional Reddit hydrogen-hater wisdom, China should presumably have looked at hydrogen and said:

>“LOL. Why would we waste electricity making hydrogen when batteries are more efficient?”

Instead, China appears to have said something more like:

>“Cool. Let's build the batteries and the hydrogen industry.”

The numbers are getting difficult to dismiss as a science experiment.

This new report says China now accounts for more than half of global renewable-hydrogen capacity. It has roughly 620 hydrogen refueling stations, more than 350 km of dedicated hydrogen pipelines, and more than half of the world's electrolyzer and fuel-cell manufacturing capacity. Hydrogen production and consumption both rank first globally.

And the IEA's 2026 Global Hydrogen Review says China was responsible for nearly three-quarters of new electrolyzer installations globally in 2025.

So I'm genuinely curious about something.

If the entire hydrogen argument can be reduced to:

“Electricity → battery → wheels = good”

and

“Electricity → hydrogen → fuel cell → wheels = stupid because efficiency”

then why is the country with perhaps the world's deepest understanding of batteries, solar manufacturing, electrification, supply chains and industrial-scale energy technology investing so heavily in BOTH?

Maybe—just maybe—the Chinese aren't confused.

Maybe they're not sitting around waiting for Reddit to explain round-trip efficiency to them.

Maybe they understand something that gets lost in these endless “battery vs. hydrogen” arguments:

Energy systems aren't built around one efficiency number.

They are built around applications.

Weight.

Range.

Refueling time.

Utilization.

Grid availability.

Seasonality.

Energy storage duration.

Industrial feedstocks.

Hydrogen-derived fuels.

Long-distance transport.

Heavy-duty vehicles.

Remote operations.

Infrastructure.

And, perhaps most importantly, economics at scale.

That doesn't mean hydrogen wins everywhere. It obviously doesn't.

It means that “batteries are more electrically efficient” isn't the same thing as “therefore hydrogen has no useful role.”

And watching China simultaneously build the world's battery/solar/EV manufacturing juggernaut while aggressively scaling hydrogen makes the simplistic version of that argument look increasingly awkward.

But hey, I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Perhaps someone in China simply hasn't discovered the efficiency chart from Reddit yet.

Anyway, here's the article:

China cements global lead in hydrogen energy development

I'm posting it mainly because I think the interesting question isn't whether hydrogen will replace batteries.

The interesting question is why the country that has done more than almost anyone on Earth to prove the viability of batteries, solar and electrification is apparently unwilling to make that choice.

They are building the battery economy.

And they're building the hydrogen economy.

Maybe there's a lesson in that.

Or, alternatively, China is just wasting electricity on purpose because they haven't read the comments section here yet.