Posted on 11/18/2021 10:02:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Cummins Inc., a century-old maker of truck engines powered by diesel and other fossil fuels, may not seem like the most likely attendee at the UN Climate Conference COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, but CEO Tom Linebarger was there this week telling industrial partners and customers the company is working to help them shift to low- and no-carbon vehicles powered by batteries and hydrogen.
As battery-electric passenger models gain market share in the U.S., Europe and China, attention is shifting to electrifying larger, dirtier commercial vehicles including semi-trucks, construction and mining vehicles, as well as trains, ships and aircraft. Currently, no single type of electric power train can easily scale to handle light and heavy-duty vehicle categories, so it’s necessary to use both, Linebarger tells Forbes.
“If you’re flogging one thing and you trash the other, it's not a good plan for meeting the challenge of climate change,” he said from Glasgow. “Climate change is the existential crisis of our time. It’s just not a good idea to argue about whether batteries are better than fuel cells.”
Shifting away from carbon-based fuels was a key topic for negotiators at COP26 and appeared to have made historic breakthrough with first-draft agreement calling for the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies. But a second draft appeared to soften the wording as major oil and gas producers fight to save subsidies.
Rather than storing electricity as batteries do, fuel cells make it as needed in an electrochemical process involving hydrogen and oxygen that emits only water as a by-product. Columbus, Indiana-based Cummins is far from alone in pushing hydrogen to power heavy-duty vehicles. Toyota, Hino, Hyundai Motor, Volvo, Daimler, Nikola, General Motors and Navistar have their own hydrogen-fueled plans. They say the technology is better suited for heavy trucks that drive hundreds of miles
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
SpaceX is progressing toward using methane made from atmospheric CO2 + solar power.
Hydrogen, while interesting for power storage, still has significant efficiency & reliability issues and certainly has fuel infrastructure lacking. It provides good competition against batteries, but battery tech is evolving rapidly.
And does use Precious Water resources Like in Chile.
My son has a battery operated Snapper push mower. It is powered by a Briggs and Stratton system. Makes perfect sense as a product.
Brandon says the next big thing is battery powered generators.
I should add that Hydrogen is probably the closest thing we have to a truly green battery. Cummins could make a mint promoting this.
We will still need Diesel engines to run the generators needed to charge EVs.
Yes indeed. If the battery runs down, you park the mower and enjoy a cold beer or two while the batteries recharge.
This is sooooooo STUPID!
Ignoring all the NEGATIVES (pun intended) about battery power.
Like windmills. Oh, how wonderful. To get FREE energy “from the wind”.
EXCEPT, for all the problems associated them.
Like when the wind don’t blow! Never mind the birds!
BUT, wind power has the BIGGEST environmental footprint of all energy production.
Nuclear has the smallest footprint, even though nuclear (or nucular as W. used to say), plants are FORCED to occupy far more land than they need. Security?
Hey Bill, hand me that 1/2 inch wrench.
Sorry Joe, I left it in the truck.
Well, go get it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuYZSiz35Bg
Might work if you have say a copper mine at a mountaintop. There is a big one in Indonesia but not many others.
18-wheel Hindenburgs, coming right up...
That will only work as long as the energy supply is generated by fossil fuels. There is no solar and precious little wind at night.
federal subsidies is driving this
the ev manufacturers will be beholden to the FEDGOV
good bye free enterprise. hello fascism
I'm planning to go to a football game this Saturday and yesterday the forecast was sunny and fairly warm. Today the forecast calls for rain and much cooler. And I'm supposed to believe these clowns know what the climate will be 10 years from now?
re: “Hydrogen is itself a battery.”
Mmmmmm ... Hydrogen is not a ‘battery’.
You confuse, conflate, batteries and fuels, for starters, it would seem.
they go uphill empty, fill up,
= = =
And at the top, the (no-longer-steam) shovels are running on batteries, too?
Kind of like pumping river water up hill to store it during excess power times of the day.
Nukes are the other big one. All our existing reactors power down over night. We can get 50% more power from existing plants for very little extra cost.
Ok be technical. Understand that the generation of hydrogen is a way to store energy for future use. I was trying to explain a concept.
They should be glad that they have the cleanest engine out there, other then Nuclear power. My late husband worked for Cummins in Columbus, IN, Atlanta, Jackson Miss, Memphis, & Montgomery, AL. He was Diesel engine teacher at Columbus & Atlanta, and shop manager at the others.
re: “Understand that the generation of hydrogen is a way to store energy for future use.”
NONE of that will be material in a few years. This is going to be predominant in a few years instead:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BrilliantLightPower/
Here’s a test run of a development unit slated for customer trials:
ANYTHING and EVERYTHING else will be “left in the dust”.
EVs are not the goal.
EVs will never adequately replace the combustion engine.
Their goal is to destroy the middleclass.
Eliminate fossil fuels to force the Deplorable rural middleclass to give up and move into high density cities to live a horrid Orwellian existence.
On topic, the article was about Cummins diesel and their support of Hydrogen power. I pointed out the why.
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