On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 8:26 PM, Jerry Kemp <ot...@oryx.us> wrote: > > > Thats why I have no personal plans for a battery/electric car at any point > in the near future. Batteries truly need to make a quantum leap forward > before I would be sold on them.
BEV's are practical today. Much safer than gasoline. Range is adequate. > I have never been a big fan of asian automobiles, but Japan seem to be > leading the world with hydrogen powered vehicles as things stand right now. > Till some big leap forward appears in batteries, or something else, I'm > personally hitching my horse wagon behind hydrogen power. Every time someone with any credibility says something good about using hydrogen as a fuel I have to remind myself that I have looked at the numbers and it is impossible to make hydrogen a practical fuel for automobiles. The economics of production, transportation, storage and conversion are insurmountable. Why Toyota and Honda are convinced otherwise is a total mystery. Hydrogen has only one plus as a fuel. It has the highest energy per unit of mass. It makes OK rocket fuel when compressed and chilled to a liquid. Note that the most common rocket propellant is LOX and Kerosene, not LOX and Liquid Hydrogen. This is purely for economic reasons. For cars this is a reasonable summary of the issues: https://www.carthrottle.com/post/engineering-explained-5-reasons-why-hydrogen-cars-are-stupid/ The only issue with BEV's other than initial cost is you can't take road trips in them (except for Tesla). Otherwise they make ideal commuter cars assuming you have a place to charge at home or at work. Cost to operate is currently 1/5 that of gasoline and when gas goes back up to its record levels it will be 1/8th the cost. -- Doug Ingraham PDP-8 SN 1175
