Negative report on California hydrogen fueling infrastructure from auto industry expert

[ecarfan]

see Report: After 1.5 Years With a Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell, Even Auto Industry Expert Reports Major Challenges With Hydrogen

Quote:
after leasing the car for one and a half years it appears that there’s a major disparity between theory and practice. Despite his expertise, Wenger told H2-International that both he and his company’s employees — who were also allowed to drive the B-Class F-Cell — found life with the hydrogen fuel cell car challenging at times and impossible at others.

His frank, candid verdict? Driving a Hydrogen fuel cell car today is a “sobering experience.”
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Gee, what a surprise...

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

I've never been a fan of using Hydrogen (or any fuel you have to 'transport' as a gasoline replacement.

If you look at the whole creation, transport, use, etc of Hydrogen... why bother? Electric is already everywhere... seems the easiest to use to me.

 

[ajay]

I'm seriously torn between quoting Casablanca's Captain Renault:
"I'm shocked -shocked!- to find that gambling is going on in here!"

or Iago from Aladdin:

 

[gaswalla]

Carrying a highly combustible fuel (hydrogen) with the purpose of converting it to electricity vs carrying a storage pack of electricity. Seems obvious which is the better option

 

[johnnyS]

I met a guy who has a Miari (sp?) recently and we talked about refueling. He said it has not been a problem here in Southern California. I was polite and did not express my surprise that so far he is happy with the car.

 

[mkspeedr]

My neighbor has the Toyota. He loves it. He replaced a Prius and said it is a Rocket in comparison...then he looked back over to my P85D and said, "Ok, ok, not a rocket like yours but a rocket compared to the Prius."

He said there are 3 refueling stations in the Silicon Valley.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

In that context, my John Deer riding mower would be a rocket

 

[gavine]

I've never been a fan of using Hydrogen (or any fuel you have to 'transport' as a gasoline replacement.

If you look at the whole creation, transport, use, etc of Hydrogen... why bother? Electric is already everywhere... seems the easiest to use to me.

The ONLY reason to bother is because "refueling" is faster than charging but many non EV owners fail to recognize that 99% of the charging is done at home or work so you don't need to stop and refuel outside of the house except for on a long trip.

For the couple of times a year that you have to charge while eating a meal vs. 5 minute hydrogen fill-ups once or twice a week is not worth it. Now, if HFC's were much better cars than BEV's, then you might have a case. Just like BEV's are much better than ICE, that negates any small "refueling" shortcomings. It is my understanding that FCV's are not better than BEV's.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

"Better" is a vague term though... is a Benz AMG 6x6 better because it uses gas? No. It's better because it's bad ass

As for slow 'fill-ups'... that's today. Give it 10 years and we will make a battery that fills 100x faster than today

Agreed. John Q Public really thinks they need 350 miles on a charge and to 'fill up' in < 10 min.

35,000 miles into my Model S, and only once have I had to use a gas car due to not having a Super Charger close by. (now I do).

http://images.cdn.autocar.co.uk/sit...rcedes-g63-amg-6x6-sdfks-1.jpeg?itok=v22byi1a

 

[Xenius]

Hydrogen has been a dead end for a while now and I REALLY wish companies would put it on the back burner. Before I ordered my MS I had only driven Honda cars. But their refusal to go fully electric (yes, I know, they're an ICE company) has me going with Tesla and leaving Honda on the rear cam view.

 

[Red Sage]

Hydrogen has been a dead end for a while now and I REALLY wish companies would put it on the back burner. Before I ordered my MS I had only driven Honda cars. But their refusal to go fully electric (yes, I know, they're an ICE company) has me going with Tesla and leaving Honda on the rear cam view.

Unfortunately, Honda has been acting like a whipped dog for more than two decades now. They expected to get accolades for accomplishing the 'impossible' with the 1990 Accord, but the automotive industry as a whole, and Detroit in particular, made sure they were punished instead. That was the first Midsize car to meet strengthened CAFE regulations while simultaneously acing all the NHTSA/NTSB crash tests, and likewise qualifying for CARB's Zero Harmful Emissions Vehicle (ZHEV) status. It went on to become the best selling car in the US. Thereby proving that the requirements of regulators were not out of reach, and thus showing that everyone who said otherwise was full of $#!+. The rest of the automotive industry lobbied for all of those regulations to be strengthened, so that none of Honda's cars complied anymore. So, Honda hasn't bothered to put their best foot forward again ever since.