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Tanaka explains their strategy pretty clearly here, and it’s about functioning in an entirely renewable energy context. Hydrogen is better than batteries for l
by unchocked 7y ago
Tanaka explains their strategy pretty clearly here, and it’s about functioning in an entirely renewable energy context.
Hydrogen is better than batteries for longer term energy storage. To run a battery powered system twice as long, you need twice as much battery. To run a fuel cell twice as long, you need a bigger tank.
Japan is an energy insecure nation. Post Fukushima, Japanese companies are dealing with figuring out how to store energy from intermittent or interruptible supplies: not for hours but for weeks or months.
Hydrogen does that. It is a synthetic fuel that can be made from electricity and water. Fuel tanks scale well, and a large tank with thick walls can store a lot of hydrogen for quite a while.
So the strategy is anchored in a hydrogen energy architecture on a grid level. Mirai is a technology demonstrator for that. Critiques based on the current lack of hydrogen infrastructure are missing the point.
- ianai 7y agoAs a desert dweller, I prefer a drive train that outputs water just in principle. We need water out here, it’s only getting more dry, and there will be no big project coming to pipe water inland. Buuuut, batteries and electricity are here today.
- unchocked 7y agoThe principle is cute, but on a regional environmental level the water emitted won’t make a difference. And batteries are here already. Buy a Tesla.
- ianai 7y agoPeople have been saying the same about carbon emissions for a long time.
- unchocked 7y agoYes, and if we were talking about releasing fossil water into the atmosphere there might be something to the comparison. But water emissions from a hydrogen car are just moving existing water around and don't compound over time. It's minuscule compared to the hydrologic cycle even over desert regions.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- legohead 7y agoHow does the efficiency work out, considering you're using electricity to make hydrogen. Does the hydrogen you create put out more energy than the electricity you used to make it?