• RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Ultimately, the people who criticize hydrogen are doing the same thing as those that attacked solar power. It is just missing the forest for the trees, and they are basically guaranteed to be wrong.

    Can’t speak for everyone but my criticism of hydrogen is not on its theoretical potential to displace fossil fuels as an energy carrier, but on its practical constraints today.

    I don’t see many people criticizing hydrogen like those who “attacked solar” but people more treating it like fusion - it’s very likely the way of the future, but we shouldn’t stand around waiting for that future to materialize when we can be making changes now that will help preserve our collective future.

    Additionally, your theoretical ultra-efficient-platinum-free-corrosion-resistant-fuel-cell-and-electrolyzer future is competing against the theoretical super-energy-dense-durable-low-cost-solid-state-battery future, and I shook my Magic 8 ball asking which is more likely and all I got was “Ask again later” so… ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

    • Hypx@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      21
      ·
      1 year ago

      The “practical constraints” are mostly just lies from competing industries. Case in point, a hydrogen tank is both volumetrically and gravimetrically denser than batteries. Loosely speaking, it is about 2000 Wh/kg and 1333 Wh/L. That’s better than any li-ion battery.

      It is plenty good enough to replace both BEVs and ICE cars. As long as it is zero emissions, it works.

      Finally, FCEVs exist right now. Hypothetical magical batteries of the future don’t. So this is a meaningless comparison.

      • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        1 year ago

        mostly just lies from competing industries

        My Master’s Thesis and PhD Dissertation were focused on fuel cells as an energy storage system of the future - I’ve got more first hand experience than most with no influence “from competing industries”. I want this technology to work - badly.

        That said, you’re right that fuel cell cars exist today, but so do batteries, and with today’s technology any “meaningful comparison” will quickly point out that today’s batteries are:

        More efficient, cheaper to manufacturer, much cheaper to operate (have you checked the price per kg for (mostly fossil-produced) hydrogen recently? YIKES!), more user friendly for most (not all) drivers, and (a little more subjective) way more fun to drive.

        Yes, batteries do have their problems (long haul & heavy duty applications, refueling time, cobalt sourcing, flammability, …) But so do PEMFCs (fuel cost, platinum sourcing, reliability & safety of ultra high pressure fueling infrastructure, fuel cost, complete lack of availability for green hydrogen, fuel cost, relatively rapid chemical degradation of electolyzers through catalyst poisoning, forever chemicals involved in the production use and disposal of Teflon/Nafion, …)

        Again, I WANT fuel cells to win this contest, but today? They’ve got a lot of catching up to do before they overtake the leader, and unlike batteries, in their current state I could not in good conscience recommend purchasing an FCEV to anyone I care about.

        • Hypx@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          24
          ·
          1 year ago

          I have two things to point out: I don’t have to believe you on your claims of expertise. And the second is that I can easily accuse you of being decades out of date on your knowledge.

          None of what you said is true anymore. FCEVs are a mature technology, and will cost very little to build. Green hydrogen is plunging in cost, and will be one of the cheapest energy sources out there. None of you claims about “catalyst poisoning” is true anymore.

          So what you are doing is basically being one of those “experts” who attack a revolutionary new technology just as it is taking off. It mirrors solar skeptic just before solar power took off. All your doing is setting yourself up for total embarrassment.

          • Nudding@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            1 year ago

            don’t have to believe you on your claims of expertise.

            I’m glad you finally understand. That being said, the quality of the content of the other guys comment, compared to your 30 comments, really should be an eye opener to you.

            • Hypx@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              10
              ·
              1 year ago

              You’re just like some of the others here: Stuck in 2015 and accusing everyone else of being paid by the oil companies.

              Literally no one on the left support these kinds of fanatical anti-hydrogen positions anymore. Just this one Fascist is left. And just a bunch of conspiracy theories as the basis of reasoning. Not even a single coherent counterargument…

              • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                ROFL at your stuck in 2015 comment, I wish I were!

                In 2015, hydrogen was ~$20/kg and trending down to ~$13-16/kg by 2017, with the DOE claiming it to be “about the same cost as gas today” despite the fact that 1 kg H2 is roughly 1 gge, so the costs were about 4x gas costs, and 4x their target of $4/kg at the pump.

                Fast forward to today and guess what, that price kept dropping, and it hit the DOE targets!

                Just kidding - prices this year are up to $36/kg, making the Toyota Mirai one of the highest TCO cars on the market.

                Take me back to 2015 when that hydrogen fuel was half the price!

                • Hypx@kbin.social
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  That’s a local supply issue. It reminds me of the polysilicon shortage of late-2000s. Plenty of people came out of the woodwork to proclaim the solar panel as a dead technology. But the physics of the idea, namely that it’s all made from sand, meant that cost will eventually plunge and it did.

                  Hydrogen is the same story. Investment has recently skyrocketed across the world. No one except a few BEV fanatics are still opposed to hydrogen. That is why guys like you are stuck in the past. You are repeating the same story as what people said about wind, solar, even the BEV itself in its early days. It is guaranteed to be wrong.