3 ms·

To play devils advocate You can get catastrophic battery failures and fires in crashes etc - not very simple to put out.

jodrellblank 7y ago
You can, but the Lithium Ion can't gather invisibly around your car, it's not at high pressure waiting for a structural weakness to start escaping, it's not known for causing Hydrogen embrittlement in whatever's containing it, and it's not just about the most easily ignited material going like Hydrogen is, it's often water cooled to keep it more stable and electronically monitored in a way that can reduce current draw from possibly weakened cells, and it's easier to reinforce against damage because it's not pressurised, and if you can get away from the fire it's not a gas which can spread out around you. And Li-Ion batteries have less power density than Hydrogen and Hydrogen burning takes half the reaction fuel from oxygen in the air. There's more which can go wrong, needs less to happen for it to go wrong, gives off more energy if it does go wrong, looks more spectacular (scary) if it does go wrong. This image [1] is Toyota's own video of what happens if the Hydrogen tank is safely vented, a five meter high flamethrower. Over time, Li-Ion batteries lose charge capacity, so there's incentives to replace them with new ones. What would happen to Hydrogen tanks in a ten year old car, would you trust one? What would it take for you to trust one? It's not that it can't work, or nobody is trying, but I'm siding against it. I think anything with high pressure is unlikely to become mainstream, and anything with high pressure Hydrogen even more so. [1] http://asj.nolan-law.com/wp-content/themes/flashnews/images/stories/swainh2vgas2.jpg http://asj.nolan-law.com/wp-content/themes/flashnews/images/...
- nradov 7y ago
  Hydrogen gas can't really gather around your car. It disperses even faster than natural gas or gasoline vapors.
  - jodrellblank 7y ago
    I was taking thunderf00t's comments on that as a chemist who claims to have worked with Hydrogen enough to be afraid of it. I don't know how fast natural gas disperses, but gas leaks have blown up houses, and cars are often in indoor garages and parking lots, workshops and occasionally car ferries, shipping containers, Eurostar train carriages, etc. which would contain gas more than the open air.

jodrellblank 7y ago

You can, but the Lithium Ion can't gather invisibly around your car, it's not at high pressure waiting for a structural weakness to start escaping, it's not known for causing Hydrogen embrittlement in whatever's containing it, and it's not just about the most easily ignited material going like Hydrogen is, it's often water cooled to keep it more stable and electronically monitored in a way that can reduce current draw from possibly weakened cells, and it's easier to reinforce against damage because it's not pressurised, and if you can get away from the fire it's not a gas which can spread out around you. And Li-Ion batteries have less power density than Hydrogen and Hydrogen burning takes half the reaction fuel from oxygen in the air. There's more which can go wrong, needs less to happen for it to go wrong, gives off more energy if it does go wrong, looks more spectacular (scary) if it does go wrong. This image [1] is Toyota's own video of what happens if the Hydrogen tank is safely vented, a five meter high flamethrower. Over time, Li-Ion batteries lose charge capacity, so there's incentives to replace them with new ones. What would happen to Hydrogen tanks in a ten year old car, would you trust one? What would it take for you to trust one? It's not that it can't work, or nobody is trying, but I'm siding against it. I think anything with high pressure is unlikely to become mainstream, and anything with high pressure Hydrogen even more so. [1] http://asj.nolan-law.com/wp-content/themes/flashnews/images/stories/swainh2vgas2.jpg http://asj.nolan-law.com/wp-content/themes/flashnews/images/...

nradov 7y ago
Hydrogen gas can't really gather around your car. It disperses even faster than natural gas or gasoline vapors.
- jodrellblank 7y ago
  I was taking thunderf00t's comments on that as a chemist who claims to have worked with Hydrogen enough to be afraid of it. I don't know how fast natural gas disperses, but gas leaks have blown up houses, and cars are often in indoor garages and parking lots, workshops and occasionally car ferries, shipping containers, Eurostar train carriages, etc. which would contain gas more than the open air.