

Duo hopes to commercialize fuel cell technology by 2020







Source: GM

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RE: What happens first...
By Samus on 7/3/2013 3:49:55 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, but a hydrogen vehicle IS an electric vehicle without a battery pack. It takes all the benefits of EV's with non of the drawbacks. You get torque and reliability, while also getting fast <5 minute refueling similar to a fuel pump and lighter weight than a battery pack.

The only problem is infrastructure and how to produce hydrogen inexpensively. Nuclear power plants emit thousands of tons of hydrogen as waste. It could be captured and delivered to hydrogen stations just like gasoline.

Of course we'd need more than the 104 nuclear power plants we have operating in the USA today to maintain a steady supply of hydrogen to eventually replace petroleum fuel. But with the 104 plants we have, we could likely provide sufficient fuel for at least 50,000 hydrogen EV's.

Hydrogen EV's are a great stand-in until battery technology matures, because lets face it, Lithium is the best we've got (for energy density, charge time, and weight) and it is FAR from being good enough for mass adoption. It is sensitive to heat and cold, it can be unstable\unreliable and its very expensive.

RE: What happens first...
By Mint on 7/4/2013 12:47:39 PM , Rating: 2
No drawbacks?

Producing hydrogen from clean power and then back to electricity through a fuel cell is less than half as efficient as a battery.

I need more info about this nuclear plant H2 waste, but 50k is not enough for a bridge to EVs. There's already 100k+ EVs/PHEVs on the road in the US. That amount of H2 per plant probably isn't worth capturing anyway.

In reality, hydrogen will be produced from natural gas. Honda's own Home Energy Station produces hydrogen this way. NREL did a paper on H2 cost:
The raw production cost can be $1.57/kg (1 kg H2 has almost exactly the same energy as a gallon of gas) for $4/MMBtu gas (industrial price is now $5/MMBtu and expected to keep going up a bit), but compression, storage, and dispensing adds another $2.46/kg.

While fuel cell vehicles get a bit more mileage than a Prius on the same energy, you're still looking at fuel costs pretty much the same as gasoline's $4/gallon (though I'll admit that Honda's 60 miles/kg is better than a Prius). Add in the fact that fuel cells are still very pricey (Honda's FCX costs $600/mo to lease), and it's disingenuous to say batteries are too expensive by comparison.

The EV comparison is besides the point, though. Why do you think it's better to go H2 instead of directly with CNG when the most economical way to make H2 is with CNG?

