bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTawvzH0MQ4&t=95s

I have always maintained that hydrogen is the future.

procrastinater

I agree. This EV thing is going to lead to chaos down the pike.

Ollieboy

I truly beleive in less then 10 years when all the hype is gone and the real problems of EVs are exposed you won't be able to give one away.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

As I understand there are two possibilities for Hydrogen. One is to use it in an internal combustion engine and the other is to use it in a fuel cell. The internal combustion engine is going to produce oxides of nitrogen (a smog producer). The fuel cell is going to use electric power to run an engine. That means the most likely vehicle is still going to be an EV although the power storage system is much different.

Hydrogen fuel cells are probably the future since battery technology seems to be slow to develop.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

lukevaliant Loc: gloucester city,n. j.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

It’s important to understand that Hydrogen is simply a storage mechanism like gasoline. How “green” the solution is depends on how the hydrogen is produced and how it’s used. If used in an IC engine, there is the oxides of nitrogen problem as already mentioned. Using it in a fuel cell eliminates that issue.

As far as production goes, there are many methods to produce Hydrogen, which vary in efficiency, but if the plan is to electrolyze water using electricity as shown in the video, then there’s this little issue of the fact that it takes more energy to produce than it yields as a fuel. That begs the question of why not just use the electricity directly? The loss in efficiency has to balanced against the drawbacks of current battery technology.

Of course, it would require a completely new distribution system. Although it needs to be upgraded, the electrical distribution system is already in place. And there’s the issue of the explosion potential when storing and transferring hydrogen. In terms of replacing gasoline/diesel IC power plants, it remains to be seen which technology, hydrogen, electric or another new technology, wins in the long run.

lukevaliant Loc: gloucester city,n. j.

hydrogen does have merits i believe

SX2002 Loc: Adelaide, South Australia

After watching a video some years ago about a hydrogen powered car, the only thing that came out of the exhaust was the occasional drop of water...

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If it’s a fuel cell, yes. But if it’s an internal combustion engine such as the Toyota shown in the video, the combustion of hydrogen in the presence of air (which is ~78% nitrogen) yields oxides of nitrogen.

SX2002 Loc: Adelaide, South Australia

Yes, I did read that somewhere but others still disagree in the amount of pollution it generates...

Walkabout08

Anybody remember the Hindenburg? Read an article in the NYT this morning on Norways adoption of EVs. 80% of all car sales there are now EVs. Seems to be working quite well for them.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

I agree