I kind of enjoy the anti-hydrogen articles, as many people have been mislead as to the viability of hydrogen as a “fuel.” I thought that the hydrogen craze had been tamped down for good, but it keeps making a comeback.
You are likely correct that hydrogen could beat lithium-ion as a storage medium; however, hydrogen is anything but “user-friendly.” Storage and dispensing will always be a serious problem.
Years ago, I visited a large transit agency that was experimenting with a couple of hydrogen buses. They spent millions on the buses and a dispensing facility to fuel them. In order to store enough gas to fuel a bus, it had to be compressed to 10,000 PSI ! Any leaks resulted in spontaneous combustion - with an invisible flame!
The buses cost several times more per mile to operate than a conventional diesel bus, and they were fraught with problems. They were never placed into regular service and the agency eventually abandoned the program.
The public will never accept vehicles that run on compressed hydrogen. As someone who has witnesses the accidental release of compressed natural gas (only 3,600 PSI) believe me - a hydrogen release is going to be more than a small/short fizzle!
Fuel cells, maybe - but as with all “alternatively fueled” vehicles, we’re again applying an extremely expensive and comnplex solution to a simple problem (transportation).
It is a short fizzle -— there are gobs of videos on youtube out of europe where they are doing official testing on in car hydrogen storage systems, and yes, the pressures at the 10Kpsi range.
These are NOT the 80’s and 90’s tanks.
I suspect as these videos get more visibility with the public, it will soften people to hydrogen.
Personally, I will take torch vs. lithium ion fire.