The Glade 4.0

Hydrogen is sooooooo much more "the future of fuel" than electric cars and so forth.

I can't wait to for somebody to do with hydrogen what Tesla has done with electric cars.

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Make them kinda cool and hugely expensive?

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Hugely expensive? You counting the free-charging-for-life part?

Are they going to pay my power bill too? I had not heard of any free charging for life program. If there is, neat.

And yes, a $70-$100k car is hugely expensive.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Tesla will allow you to charge for free at any of their network of charging stations.

This assumes that a company doesn't change it's mind later, or fine print "for life" to the extent that it's much reduced. Personally I don't buy it.


My point was more along the lines of: build their own infrastructure (charging stations) in order to convince people to buy cars. People won't buy hydrogen cars (even if economically priced) because they have no where to fill up. Nobody will build a filling station because nobody owns the cars. Catch 22.

Tesla, to their credit, decided to build their own stations. I don't know how long it will last, but the point is they decided to try and break the Catch 22. That's what hydrogen needs.

Afterwhich point, we can tell the entire middle east region to **** off. Which would be swell.

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Ah. I see.

So on their map, there are zero stations in Las Vegas. Nor will there be any up through 2015.

So while in theory, a good idea... Still pretty useless to most people. If I were to travel to CA, ok, cool, but going anywhere else? Not so much.

Electric cars are not the future. The range issues as well as battery cost and weight are hard limiters. Hydrogen likely is.

And I agree about the infrastructure limitations. I would totally get a Honda FCX Clarity if there were places I could fuel it here in Vegas.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Exactly my intended sentiment in this thread.



Yes, indeed. And to be clear, the desire to input the infrastructure on their own is the only reason to like Tesla Motors.

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Ok. We're on the same page then

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Note that the original post indicates they are using the hydrogen to charge their electric cars...

Running the car directly on hydrogen would be better. Personally I think natural gas is better still. We have the gas running down most of the streets in the US, so all you need to do is add a compressor pump to your garage or filling station. The range is such that even I could go most days without a refill. Also existing cars can be converted reasonably.

That said I think heavy water /hyrdogen could be useful for stationary power generation.

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Oh, while I'm on the subject.

http://www.hometownstations.com/story/2 ... on-in-ohio


This is how the alternative fuel industry is likely to pan out with fleets making their own stations and allowing others to use them to offset the cost.

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

That seems kinda *** backwards.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

As far as I can tell, that's because they're using it for home power generation. You would then charge the car from your home supply.

That said, if they're advancing it to the home level, improved (independent) car power isn't far behind. It's just the micro version of the same tech. Honda Clarity is already out there, just too expensive (and no infrastructure).

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

It should also be noted, on the CNG thing, UPS has already changed over most of their vehicles.

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Why would heavy water be in any way advantageous to a hydrogen cell engine? They aren't fusion engines.

Brain fart

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

I could tell you about the testing lab they are building at my work but I really can't afford to get fired...

_________________
Raell Kromwell

It seems that way, but it's not.

Hydrogen generating electricity and then using that electricity to power electric motors is far more efficient than hydrogen combustion engines directly powering the motors. Not only that, electric powered cars have the potential to be far more powerful than combustion engines directly driving them. The overengineered Bugatti Veyron topped out at about 1000 horsepower. That's nothing for electric motors.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Erred... source on both?

_________________

Even if it's so, there are still currently issues with range and battery replacement.

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Electric cars are hugely limited by the amount of battery power they can cart around. Electric cars are not the answer. Unless its hydrogen fuel cell tech, then that shows promise. The car that can go a hundred miles then needs a lengthy 6-10 hour charge is not a good thing.

The Veyron SS got to 1250HP.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Well, if they were using the Hydrogen to power the motor directly somehow, ... maybe? I dunno...

But they are using it to charge batteries, and using said batteries to power the motor.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but my generally good common sense tells me that powering a car with batteries is a "bad plan (tm)", at least with current battery technology...

Electric Cars are only limited by the amount of battery power they can cart around because they're currently running of batteries.

That's what Hydrogen could change, if we could manufacture it cheaply (which is the point of the OP.) We use Hydrogen in the fuel cells, and the fuel cells directly power the electric motors. I've read studies of using Hydrogen combustion engines directly (the Mazda Wankel-rotary engine from the RX-7/RX-8 series is apparently most well suited to burning hydrogen with only a minimum of modification) compared to using the hydrogen to generate electricity and using that electricity to run the motors. The latter was far more efficient.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █