For an example of what I’m talking about, look into the publicity surrounding hydrogen cars. They’re not a viable technology, and this is obvious to sufficiently smart people, but because they claim to be relevant to AGW
Elon made his bet on battery driven cars. It’s not clear to me that it’s the right call. Hydrogen can be stored for longer timeframes which means that in a world where most of our energy comes from solar cells you can create it from surplus energy in the summer and use it up in the winter while batteries can only charge with energy that’s available at the particular time you want to charge your car.
Whether or not hydrogen driven cars become viable, there are strong arguments (Nikola Motors aside) that hydrogen trucks are likely to become viable, moreso than battery trucks, because of the energy demands and long distances driven. Autonomous vehicles could change the situation again, in either direction, depending on recharge vs refuel time and electricity vs hydrogen costs, and the price of that time and fuel relative to the value of vehicle uptime, especially for shared and fleet vehicles.
Elon made his bet on battery driven cars. It’s not clear to me that it’s the right call. Hydrogen can be stored for longer timeframes which means that in a world where most of our energy comes from solar cells you can create it from surplus energy in the summer and use it up in the winter while batteries can only charge with energy that’s available at the particular time you want to charge your car.
Whether or not hydrogen driven cars become viable, there are strong arguments (Nikola Motors aside) that hydrogen trucks are likely to become viable, moreso than battery trucks, because of the energy demands and long distances driven. Autonomous vehicles could change the situation again, in either direction, depending on recharge vs refuel time and electricity vs hydrogen costs, and the price of that time and fuel relative to the value of vehicle uptime, especially for shared and fleet vehicles.