Volkswagen develops hydrogen car that can travel 2k kilometers on one tank

Post by plorg » Sun, Oct 30, 2022, 5:47 PM UTC

vitus wrote: post #35

Animats wrote: post #33

This is "filed a patent on", not "developed". They may just have a benchtop fuel cell model. Range here is mostly about installed tank size. A Greyhound bus can travel about 2k kilometers on one fill-up.

Exactly this. A modern sedan might get 40 miles to the gallon, but only has a tank of maybe 13 gallons (for a range of 500 miles / 800km). Meanwhile the bus gets "only" 6 mpg but has a 200-gallon tank to compensate.

Post by tomxor » Sun, Oct 30, 2022, 5:50 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #50

Is there a safe, legal, reasonable way to install a gas tank in my trunk if I wanted to sacrifice storage for distance? My car could get 2000km.

Post by szundi » Sun, Oct 30, 2022, 5:52 PM UTC

plorg wrote: post #51

vitus wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. A modern sedan might get 40 miles to the gallon, but only has a tank of maybe 13 gallons (for a range of 500 miles / 800km). Meanwhile the bus gets "only" 6 mpg but has a 200-gallon tank to compensate.

Hydrogen, also, has a much lower volumetric energy density that gasoline, diesel, or even LNG, and requires a bunch more equipment to maintain the cryogenic temperatutes required to keep it in a liquid state.

Post by foobazgt » Sun, Oct 30, 2022, 5:52 PM UTC

jonwest wrote: post #19

geijoenr wrote: post #14

Some time ago I saw a presentation from the chaos computer club where an expert on the matter explained there is a lot of misunderstandings about hydrogen technology as an energy source and how is gonna useful for society and why it is necessary. In a nutshell some industries that currently rely on natural gas cannot switch effectively to electricity, hydrogen seems to be the only solution at the moment. Regarding tr…

What about using hydrogen as a generator for an EV like in the Hyundai 74 concept? I’m far from an expert but something like that, at least intuitively, feels like a nice compromise with having portability of fuel, but still allowing for alternative power sources via electricity (like if grid power was sourced via solar, hydro, wind, etc).

Post by throwaway894345 » Sun, Oct 30, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #39

geijoenr wrote: post #14

Some time ago I saw a presentation from the chaos computer club where an expert on the matter explained there is a lot of misunderstandings about hydrogen technology as an energy source and how is gonna useful for society and why it is necessary. In a nutshell some industries that currently rely on natural gas cannot switch effectively to electricity, hydrogen seems to be the only solution at the moment. Regarding tr…

The best balanced overview of hydrogen's future I've seen has been the Hydrogen Science Coalition: https://h2sciencecoalition.com/principles/ Green hydrogen is desperately required to produce fertilizer cleanly, so it is a problem that must be solved. It also looks very promising in a couple of other industrial processes, like the production of steel. And that's about all we can say with any degree of certainty.