EV World today posted an article (http://www.evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=15333) which they got from Scenta/UK (http://www.scenta.co.uk/Nature/1699168/going-nowhere-fast.htm) which they in turn got from Guardian Unlimited (http://environment.guardian.co.uk/travel/story/0,,2091886,00.html). . . . and the title is "Going Nowhere Fast", it's about hydrogen powered cars!
Unlike most hydrogen hype articles, this one doesn't simply repeat whatever line the big car companies fed to the author, and it actually mentions competing technologies and skeptical viewpoints. Allow me to pick out a few choice quotes!
On electric cars. . . .
The gleaming red stumbling block to this is the Tesla, the electric car launched last year that has single-handedly revived the fortunes of the electric car market by looking convincing and even sexy (Top Gear magazine's recent green issue loved it: apparently it accelerates like the best of them). Why would you use electricity to create hydrogen to fuel a car (the hydrogen is then converted back into electricity in the fuel cell, after all) if you can just use the electricity? The Tesla must give car execs who've staked their money on hydrogen some sleepless nights.
On the viewpoint of Big Oil. . . .
And an oil company insider tells me that very few people in their industry take hydrogen (or electricity for that matter) very seriously at all; it's just not considered a viable mainstream prospect. The majority of the industry believes that the future will lie in bio-fuels (which, as we are increasingly hearing, come with their own major pitfalls) and perceives hydrogen and electricity as having little more than novelty value.
On the pace of progress with hydrogen vehicles. . .
But when does BMW expect to have it on the road? Five to 10 years, it says, just as it has been saying since the first one it built in 1978. Like a mirage, the hydrogen economy seems so near, but keeps moving away whenever we get closer.
Unlike most hydrogen hype articles, this one doesn't simply repeat whatever line the big car companies fed to the author, and it actually mentions competing technologies and skeptical viewpoints. Allow me to pick out a few choice quotes!
On electric cars. . . .
The gleaming red stumbling block to this is the Tesla, the electric car launched last year that has single-handedly revived the fortunes of the electric car market by looking convincing and even sexy (Top Gear magazine's recent green issue loved it: apparently it accelerates like the best of them). Why would you use electricity to create hydrogen to fuel a car (the hydrogen is then converted back into electricity in the fuel cell, after all) if you can just use the electricity? The Tesla must give car execs who've staked their money on hydrogen some sleepless nights.
On the viewpoint of Big Oil. . . .
And an oil company insider tells me that very few people in their industry take hydrogen (or electricity for that matter) very seriously at all; it's just not considered a viable mainstream prospect. The majority of the industry believes that the future will lie in bio-fuels (which, as we are increasingly hearing, come with their own major pitfalls) and perceives hydrogen and electricity as having little more than novelty value.
On the pace of progress with hydrogen vehicles. . .
But when does BMW expect to have it on the road? Five to 10 years, it says, just as it has been saying since the first one it built in 1978. Like a mirage, the hydrogen economy seems so near, but keeps moving away whenever we get closer.
