I'm midway through a deep dive on PEM fuel cells. My first takeaway is, damn, so many researchers have tried to crack this nut over the years. We've been work

I'm midway through a deep dive on PEM fuel cells. My first takeaway is, damn, so many researchers have tried to crack this nut over the years. We've been working on this technology since the 1960s. A cheaper and more durable membrane would be a huge improvement on paper. In practice, of course, there are a million variables that make fuel cells difficult to use as a general-purpose tool. From all the issues with fuel storage, cost, mechanical durability, degradation, to problems with pollutants and fouling, and so on... As a side note: The Toyota Mirai is absolutely fascinating to me. A 1kW hydrogen fuel cell on the open market goes for around $5k, and yet somehow Toyota has managed to put a 136kW stack on the road for under 50 grand! You can even find one on the used market for around 12 grand. It's almost worth buying them up to use as mobile hydrogen power plants.