When Will the Hydrogen Economy Arrive? We’ll Colonize Mars First
I noticed in this post from guest blogger Jordan: “Technically, we (at BMW are) ready to put fuel-cell cars on the road, but so far it remains too expensive,” said Axel Ruecker, who works in BMW’s fuel-cell technology development team. “Making fuel-cell technology a reality is a task not just for car makers, but for the whole of society.”
I got news. It isn’t happening. And is it possible that Mr. Ruecker somehow doesn’t know that?
We here in the U.S. can barely prevent our bridges from collapsing and our trains from derailing. How close do you think we are from re-outfitting our 3.5 million-square-mile landmass with a fuel delivery system for hydrogen?
We have some challenges in ushering in battery EVs, but at least electricity is ubiquitous. We can unplug our toasters and plug in our cars.
As far as hydrogen is concerned, I wouldn’t pack my bags quite yet.
I think that even this is overly optimistic.
🙂
There will never be a point in time when it would make sense to have fuel-cell vehicles.
I don’t think there’s much sense in EV’s for several decades (if then), but an EV and a fuel-cell vehicle both derive their fuel from electricity… One stores that in hydrogen, one in a battery.
The EV has much greater travel distance, 5fold greater longevity/reliability, and costs ~1/10th as much as a fuel cell vehicle of similar performance. The fuel (electricity) for EV’s costs ~1/10th as much as what would be theoretically possible for a compressed hydrogen fill station.
Whenever it actually does become viable for a shift from liquid hydrocarbons in our transportation (something I don’t believe will happen anytime soon)… we won’t randomly select the option that is many times more expensive.
Exactly correct about the “random decision.”
As usual, you’re more bearish on EVs generally than I am.