9 Sep
2016
9 Sep
'16
8:36 a.m.
On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 8:26 PM, Jerry Kemp <other at oryx.us> wrote:
Thats why I have no personal plans for a battery/electric car at any point
in the near future. Batteries truly need to make a quantum leap forward
before I would be sold on them.
BEV's are practical today. Much safer than gasoline. Range is adequate.
I have never been a big fan of asian automobiles, but
Japan seem to be
leading the world with hydrogen powered vehicles as things stand right now.
Till some big leap forward appears in batteries, or something else, I'm
personally hitching my horse wagon behind hydrogen power.
Every time someone with any credibility says something good about using
hydrogen as a fuel I have to remind myself that I have looked at the
numbers and it is impossible to make hydrogen a practical fuel for
automobiles. The economics of production, transportation, storage and
conversion are insurmountable. Why Toyota and Honda are convinced
otherwise is a total mystery.
Hydrogen has only one plus as a fuel. It has the highest energy per unit
of mass. It makes OK rocket fuel when compressed and chilled to a liquid.
Note that the most common rocket propellant is LOX and Kerosene, not LOX
and Liquid Hydrogen. This is purely for economic reasons.
For cars this is a reasonable summary of the issues:
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/engineering-explained-5-reasons-why-hydrog…
The only issue with BEV's other than initial cost is you can't take road
trips in them (except for Tesla). Otherwise they make ideal commuter cars
assuming you have a place to charge at home or at work. Cost to operate is
currently 1/5 that of gasoline and when gas goes back up to its record
levels it will be 1/8th the cost.
--
Doug Ingraham
PDP-8 SN 1175