Question: Are there any major differences between hydrogen cars and basic electric cars like the Nissan Leaf?

Alexander De Bruin answered on 12 Nov 2021:

Great question, thank you! In terms of the motor that turns the wheel, no. In terms of the energy storage, yes-ish. Both have a battery, though a full battery vehicle (BEV) like the Leaf will have a bigger battery as it needs to be plugged into a charger to get more electricity. In a fuel cell car (FCEV), electricity is being constantly generated by the fuel cell that uses a feed of hydrogen from a fuel tank. Think of a fuel cell vehicle more like a hybrid car (e.g. Toyota Prius), that will sometimes run from the battery and sometimes get the electricity from the fuel cell. This means that you can simply re-fill the hydrogen tank (~5 minutes) and keep going, rather than at least 30 mins if you can access a Tesla supercharger.
Fuel cell cars also have another couple of advantages. Firstly, they are not as heavy as a similarly-sized battery vehicle, meaning that there is less wear on the tyres, brakes, and road (batteries are super heavy!). Secondly, they actively clean the air, due to the filtration requirement for getting air/oxygen into the fuel cell. There is a great video of a pollution monitor strapped to the front and to the tailpipe of a FCEV, and there are lower levels of pretty much every pollutant in the tailpipe!