I’m for anything that works well and is cost efficient. If we can replace oil with something more practical, kick ass.
Dirty little secret is the people who run the enviroment agencies and lobby groups don’t care for cars at all even if they don’t give off CO2. They don’t like large machines. They are made with evil American Capitalism and can too easily kill animals and plants
Hydrogen Fuel Cell is electric; in more ways than one.
The hydrogen must be separated from water by electrolysis (very expensive energy wise).
The fuel cell generates electricity that will power a electric traction motor.
Personally I would prefer a natural gas (methane) fuel cell if I were to want to use such a thing to power a truck; Much more environmentally friendly.
I’d like to see tne energy budget, i.e. what it costs to make the hydrogen vs. the power it provides. Transportation and storage are also pretty big technical issues, but someday will be managed.
While it’s not suitable for over-the-road trucks, take a look at the Hydraulic Hybrids that have been created by both Eaton and Parker Hannifin, working with FedEx, UPS, etc. They store the energy created from braking, going downhill, etc in hydraulic accumulators that can then be use to power the vehicle. There’s no free lunch, but it’s a viable alternative to electric for vehicles like package delivery cars, garbage trucks, etc that do a lot of short distance, stop-and-go driving.
Lessee...
Coal (85% of the time) to electricity to hydrogen to electricity to drive the truck.
Gee, that sounds so much more efficient than using oil directly. (/S)
My calculations come up to $300,000 per unit....where’s the savings.
Wonder if big rigs will ever be autonomous? And combining that with renewable energy, if the savings will passed on to consumers?
I drove 18 wheeler for 10 years or so. Having Hydrogen as fuel, no matter how safe the Cell may be... would be like having an 80,000 pound HINDENBURG going down the highway... I dunno!!!