Hydrogen is not a fuel and is not renewable unless you produce it from a renewable energy source (wind, solar, hydro etc.). As we have posted here MANY TIMES, hydrogen is amazingly inefficient and expensive and would be better replace with electric cars. You have to make it (hydrolysis, reforming), transport it, compresses it, store it, then run it through the fuel cell which is made from expensive metals. All of those phases use energy which is lost. So yes, you get water out of the tailpipe and a giant cloud of pollutants at the coal powered plant that generated the wasted electricity to do all those steps, all of which use more energy than simply using electricity by itself. Even if you get your electricty cleanly to start, its more efficient and far cheaper to go straight to a battery and skip all the bullsh*t.

Stop with the pro-hydrogen already.

Here's what the European Fuel Cell Forum guy had to say: skip hydrogen and go straight to electric cars.
http://www.efcf.com/e/reports/E17.pdf

Reply

↓↑report

I just don't get it, why so much money wasted on new infrastructures when electric cars are a much better alternative - the infrastructure is all around us. I love cars, don't get me wrong, but the automobile industry is really fixated on having as many movable parts in theirs cars as possible. I know, this is so they can continue to make money AFTER they sell you the car. Plug-in hybrids even satisfy this fixation. I like hydrogen as a concept, but its just not the direction I feel countries need to go.

Electric really solves all the questions - except which method of generating electricity do you use. And that is even better - right now, gas or hydrogen have to use gas or hydrogen. With electric cars, yeah they need electricity, but that electricity can be generated from a variety of sources including gas, coal, hydrogen, wind, solar, etc.

Trying to change how more than 250,000 vehicles create emissions is a much harder task to pursue then to control and manage emissions produced by the plants that create electricity.

I like hydrogen as an alternative, but its just not as viable right now as full out electric cars.

Reply

↓↑report

This just in, it's the year 2020 and India has just gone bankrupt.

India should put their money into transportation that doesn't require a multi-billion dollar infrastructure. Their electrical infrastructure is already suffering itself! India is acting like a baby that wants to run already. They need to slow down a little.

Reply

↓↑report

It is a bit annoying when a wealthy nation decides to squander research funds on expensive and problematic H2 fuel. It is downright tragic to see a developing nation like India waste funds on H2 fuels it really can't afford.

There are two bright spots for the future of India, however. They are developing practical and affordable biofuels, and they have a small but growing EV industry. There won't be a million H2 powered cars in 2020 (I'd be suprised if there were any) but there could be over 2 million electric and biodiesel cars.

Reply

↓↑report

Yet another ABG post blasting India without any credible evidence based on news story devoid of any details about the Indian plan or the people behind it.

What do folks at ABG have against India?

Reply

↓↑report