A 1999 article in The Guardian predicting the future of EVs
- Thread starter LindsayNB
- Start date
Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:
DarkStar
Well-known member
Do these guys realize I have a book on electric vehicles from 1978 that says almost the exact same thing? Yeah, that hydrogen fuel cell thing is really taking off!
sdbmania
Well-known member
Interesting. I think the oil industry likes the fuel cell idea because it's another type of fuel that will need to be "pumped" into the car.
Though I am glad to see alternatives to gasoline being developed, I doubt that Fuel Cell technology is going to be ready before electric cars take over!
It's too expensive and dangerous to ship the fuel right now and the infrastructure costs are probably more expensive then installing charging docks.
Just my humble opinion.
Though I am glad to see alternatives to gasoline being developed, I doubt that Fuel Cell technology is going to be ready before electric cars take over!
It's too expensive and dangerous to ship the fuel right now and the infrastructure costs are probably more expensive then installing charging docks.
Just my humble opinion.
davewill
Well-known member
They like it because the most economical way to make hydrogen is to use fossil fuels.sdbmania said:
The good thing about fuel cell vehicles is aside from the fuel cell they are essentially BEVs. Electric motor, small battery pack for regen. Seems like a lot of overlapping technology, so innovation could benefit both formats.
Sasparilla
Well-known member
This prediction isn't very surprising given what was going on at the time.
There was a huge corporate funded / lobbied (oil and auto industry) push on Fuel Cells at the time culminating in the Bush Administration's massive funding of Fuel Cell vehicle research, with the industry and industry lobbied government officials saying Fuel Cell vehicles would be practical in less than a decade (5 years was always thrown around). That was a farce of course, but these companies got billions in US government funding, spurred other governments to fund fuel cell development for their auto companies and most importantly kept everyone buying ICE vehicles and oil based fuels while the public thought they were really getting us close to moving off oil (which they weren't).
A win, win for oil companies and vehicle manufactures - keeping everything like it was (especially after that close call with the public getting a taste of EV's, and really getting off oil, in the late 90's there in CA).
The current administration has tried to scale back the fuel cell vehicle research since its not likely to pay off in the short or medium term - however lobbyists have continued to get the funding restored in the house and senate over the last 2 years and the government funded fuel cell campaign continues so you'll continue to hear about them and how they are just 5 years away until that spigot gets turned off.
bdgotoh has a great point there, other than the fuel cell itself, the vehicle is basically a BEV and most of its technology is directly applicable.
There was a huge corporate funded / lobbied (oil and auto industry) push on Fuel Cells at the time culminating in the Bush Administration's massive funding of Fuel Cell vehicle research, with the industry and industry lobbied government officials saying Fuel Cell vehicles would be practical in less than a decade (5 years was always thrown around). That was a farce of course, but these companies got billions in US government funding, spurred other governments to fund fuel cell development for their auto companies and most importantly kept everyone buying ICE vehicles and oil based fuels while the public thought they were really getting us close to moving off oil (which they weren't).
A win, win for oil companies and vehicle manufactures - keeping everything like it was (especially after that close call with the public getting a taste of EV's, and really getting off oil, in the late 90's there in CA).
The current administration has tried to scale back the fuel cell vehicle research since its not likely to pay off in the short or medium term - however lobbyists have continued to get the funding restored in the house and senate over the last 2 years and the government funded fuel cell campaign continues so you'll continue to hear about them and how they are just 5 years away until that spigot gets turned off.
bdgotoh has a great point there, other than the fuel cell itself, the vehicle is basically a BEV and most of its technology is directly applicable.
DaveinOlyWA
Well-known member
*yawn* another article that touts a "100% solution"
ya, sure...that will work in another 40-50 years. but we cant wait that long, so a half dozen 10% solutions is where its at. with current battery technology, the EV does a pretty good job of covering its 10%. with improvements, EVs will increase their usefulness.
add to that, advances in solar photovotaics, wind, geothermal, etc and pretty soon, we may find that that "100% solution" will only have to cover less than half
ya, sure...that will work in another 40-50 years. but we cant wait that long, so a half dozen 10% solutions is where its at. with current battery technology, the EV does a pretty good job of covering its 10%. with improvements, EVs will increase their usefulness.
add to that, advances in solar photovotaics, wind, geothermal, etc and pretty soon, we may find that that "100% solution" will only have to cover less than half
Fuel cell infrastructure not there and extremely expensive; energy use per mile way higher than with 'normal' EV. Get the battery technology improved and cost down (to where you can have 250-300 mile range with <10min charge time to 80%), and EV can cover EVERYBODY.
Just another humble opinion :shock:
Just another humble opinion :shock:
