Fuel Cell Vehicles
I read Nick Crook’s letter on fuel cell vehicles in the February issue of MSL with interest. May I offer an alternative point of view?
It is becoming increasingly apparent that electric/lithium battery technology is a dead end. The batteries are expensive and dirty to make (over the life of a Tesla car, it is estimated that it will involve the production of just as much CO2 as a conventionally fuelled vehicle), heavy, and cannot achieve the energy storage density needed for a decent range. Not to mention the fact that if everybody suddenly decided to go electric overnight, there is no way on earth that our creaking electrical supply infrastructure would be able to cope. None.
Nick is quite correct to point out that the clean production of hydrogen involves splitting water by applying energy, but fails to take into account that there is a free and unlimited supply of both water and energy that is readily accessible to us – the oceans and the sun, if only we would use them. We have simply reached the point where we cannot afford to pour any more CO2 into our atmosphere. The use of ‘conventional’ batterypowered electric vehicles still involves the production of vast amounts of CO2 from the power stations that supply the grid.
Toyota now have production fuel-cell car models that can achieve well over 300 miles on a single fill. Where are the motorcycles? The money spent on developing the current crop of electric offerings would not go to waste. The efficient motors, drivetrains, etc., developed for the battery vehicles, would all be able to be used in fuel cell powered bikes. Go figure.
Jan Ozimkowski