Hypx

15 ms·

91.
by Hypx 6y ago
That’s the thing: Hydrogen is getting much cheaper as we speak. Cheap enough to become a real threat to companies not on board. It’s following the curve of PV solar right now and not some decades in the future. Besides, what do companies ha
92.
by Hypx 6y ago
The problem is that Tesla is also another Kodak. Companies need to start investing in fuel cell technology or face another disruption. The future might be companies like Hyundai or Toyota, who are investing in "all-of-the-above" t
93.
by Hypx 6y ago
I would insist that the future is really fuel cell cars. Battery electric will be a short-term transitional class of vehicle. Most car companies need to plan for the real future pretty soon now.
94.
by Hypx 6y ago
> I do think there are many challenging engineering problems along that path, and I’m not convinced it’s tractable at all, much less likely to outpace advances in battery systems. I disagree on that last part. Fuel cell is moving at warp
95.
by Hypx 6y ago
Not necessarily. You can store it in metal hydrides. It's also a small amount of energy comparatively, so it's not a big loss. Finally, you can recover a lot of the energy back.
96.
by Hypx 6y ago
Not necessarily. They can use capacitors instead. And the battery is only engaged when accelerating or braking. The car runs mostly on the fuel cell in steady state operation. Those are just assumptions. There's no reason why you can&#
97.
by Hypx 6y ago
On the other hand, the Nexo is storing a much larger amount of energy. At 6.3 kg of hydrogen and at 33.3 kWh of usable energy per kg, that's 209.8 kWh. The Y only stores 75 kWh in comparison. Fuel cells are around 60% efficient today.
98.
by Hypx 6y ago
It's probably closer to 40% and 75% respectively. VW is probably not being totally honest with their numbers. This gap will shrink in the future. The Mirai is overbuilt for what it is. The Hyundai Nexo is 1814-1873 kg despite being an
99.
by Hypx 6y ago
No more so than a battery. A fuel cell is in fact a battery of sorts, and it's not out of the question that it approaches the efficiency of a conventional battery. It should also be pointed out that the lower weight of a fuel cell powe
100.
by Hypx 6y ago
These are backwards looking arguments. I'm talking about a future where: fuel cell cars are far cheaper, hydrogen is approximately as cheap and efficient as electricity, there is a substantial hydrogen infrastructure in place, and rang
101.
by Hypx 6y ago
It's the fundamentally superior technology. It's likely to be much cheaper than batteries in the long run, and I suspect will eventually equal batteries on efficiency too (fuel cells are technically batteries themselves). We can g
102.
by Hypx 6y ago
I think batteries will be annihilated by fuel cells in the near future. So in all likelihood the current business of Tesla will be wiped out. Tesla could only survive if it completely reinvents itself.
103.
by Hypx 6y ago
As Buffett once said how markets behave like Cinderella at the ball. Everyone tries to stay until right before midnight, except you have no way of knowing when it's midnight.
104.
by Hypx 6y ago
In numbers, not in revenue. The Swiss watch industry is still far larger as a business.
105.
by Hypx 6y ago
It's sad that people don't want to hear this. He's like Trump in how much he lies and misleads people. But people want to be lied to.
106.
by Hypx 6y ago
Then it's merely reducing the "tax" until it is no longer an issue. A combination of efficiency improvements and lower source energy cost can solve this. The alternatives have their own downsides. Usually in the form of weigh
107.
by Hypx 6y ago
That might be because hydrogen DRI is something that nearly exists already. Modern DRI plants using a mix of H2 and CO as the reducing agent. Going to 100% H2 is basically a shift in process without changing the fundamental technology. Wh
108.
by Hypx 6y ago
The amount of hydrogen you need for hydrogen DRI is quite small. From this source: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/08/f54/fcto-h2-... You need about 54kg of hydrogen per ton of iro
109.
by Hypx 6y ago
No one cares about efficiency intrinsically. As long as it's cost effective, this is not an issue. One of the major improvements in modern electrolyzers is that they don't need to run 100% of the time to function. As costs come
110.
by Hypx 6y ago
Electrolyzer costs are dropping in a similar to way to solar power. This is likely not going to be a limiting factor pretty soon.
111.
by Hypx 6y ago
You can perform both steps in the same device. It's just more efficiency to have a dedicated electrolyzer doing that elsewhere.
112.
by Hypx 6y ago
You can buy a metal hydride storage system next year: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-19/tesla-pow...
113.
by Hypx 6y ago
The article you cited is just a person trying to, from purely an a priori standpoint, determine what is possible based on how things currently are. At no point does he try to imagine where the technology will be or where society will be in
114.
by Hypx 6y ago
You store hydrogen in underground caverns. This is both simple and very cheap. Hydrogen isn't flammable unless it is mixed with oxygen. That's the same with any other chemical fuel.
115.
by Hypx 6y ago
One alternative idea I've been thinking about is immediately convert all renewable energy into hydrogen gas. Then the hydrogen is piped to where it's need, or stored in underground caverns for later use. Power generation becomes e
116.
by Hypx 6y ago
It’s times like these that people should realize that fuel cells are a type of battery. You can call them hydrogen-air batteries.
117.
by Hypx 6y ago
People seriously expect fuel cell cars to allow for 100% green transport. Only from a BEV context do you talk about figuring out the last 10% or whatever.
118.
by Hypx 6y ago
The problem is that fuel cell cars really can take you to 100% green transportation. This is a problem that can be avoided entirely.
119.
by Hypx 6y ago
It should be pointed out that stationary systems can easily exceed 40% if we really wanted to. By combining heat and power generation you could push net efficiency out to 60% or higher. You also don't need to worry about compression or
120.
by Hypx 6y ago
Except now your back to using fossil fuels again. This is the big problem pro-BEV people are missing. If your goal is to reach 100% green transportation, batteries will never get you there.

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