I’ve never really understand the hydrogen argument from a basic level. Surely it’s easier to generate electricity and use it to power a vehicle than to generate electricity, use it to create hydrogen, ship it across the country, and then use it to create electricity to power a car?
Let alone needing to keep it at -170c. Imagine the power waste to do that 24/7 365 days a year at every gas station in the world
Batteries are (and will be for quite a long time) too heavy for medium to large commercial vehicles. Even the solid-state battery will not be enough. Energy density per weight simply doesn’t make sense.
There is no need for every to-be EV stations to carry H2 stations; the company that runs FCEV trucks/heavy machineries can run their own in their hub.
Yep, I can’t see how anyone who’s ever passed a college level thermodynamics class can think hydrogen is a solution beyond narrow applications where batteries are just too heavy or expensive. Even in the heavy duty space batteries will probably win in the majority of use cases except maybe long haul and some niche industrial applications.
This is the main reason the national labs are still bullish on hydrogen. Anything involving long distances or heavy loads. It never made sense for solo commutes, even Toyota said they didn’t put a plug on the Mirai because then people would only refuel a few times a year and nobody would build hydrogen infrastructure.
I’ve never really understand the hydrogen argument from a basic level. Surely it’s easier to generate electricity and use it to power a vehicle than to generate electricity, use it to create hydrogen, ship it across the country, and then use it to create electricity to power a car?
Let alone needing to keep it at -170c. Imagine the power waste to do that 24/7 365 days a year at every gas station in the world
It’s simple:
BEV - petrol/gas
FCEV - diesel
Batteries are (and will be for quite a long time) too heavy for medium to large commercial vehicles. Even the solid-state battery will not be enough. Energy density per weight simply doesn’t make sense.
There is no need for every to-be EV stations to carry H2 stations; the company that runs FCEV trucks/heavy machineries can run their own in their hub.
Toyota went so deep into hydrogen for a lot of reasons, many of them not good.
It was a mixture of Japanese domestic politics, leadership politics and the need to keep exiting supplier ecosystem happy.
People don’t realize companies don’t exist in a vacuum, especially not for a “national pride” like Toyota.
But just like every single instance of “Japanese tech decision vs. the rest of the world” in the past 20 years, they got it wrong again.
Yep, I can’t see how anyone who’s ever passed a college level thermodynamics class can think hydrogen is a solution beyond narrow applications where batteries are just too heavy or expensive. Even in the heavy duty space batteries will probably win in the majority of use cases except maybe long haul and some niche industrial applications.
Anyone with brain knows it’s not sustainable to extract the materials needed to replace ICE vehicles with EVs.
Look at the energy density (j/kg)
This is the main reason the national labs are still bullish on hydrogen. Anything involving long distances or heavy loads. It never made sense for solo commutes, even Toyota said they didn’t put a plug on the Mirai because then people would only refuel a few times a year and nobody would build hydrogen infrastructure.