Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterMe
...Hydrogen is not a fuel. It is an energy storage mechanism somewhat like batteries and tanks of compressed air. Unlike batteries, hydrogen storage does not lose capacity over time.....
|
Hydrogen is as much a "fuel" as gasoline is. And gasoline is as much a "storage mechanism" as gasoline is. In addition, hydrogen storage does indeed lose capacity over time. It doesn't lose it's charge as a battery would, it leaks. Hydrogen, being the smallest element, tends to leak out between the molecules of whatever you might use to bottle it up.
I believe the basic idea behind the "ten years till fuel cells" isn't just that they will be possible then, it's that the overall system won't be close to price competitive by then (if ever). Fuel cells, and their hydrogen fuels already do exist, and NASA has used them for decades (at tremendous cost). But for it to gain widespread use is a large and expensive change, which a great deal of people don't support to begin with. And for it to be efficient enough to compete with the alternatives (oil, LPG, electricity, ethanol, biodiesel, etc) will take a tremendous increase in scale. THAT will take many years. And it's not like a gas station can just add a "hydrogen pump" and they're done. The storage and dispensing of hydrogen is nothing like gasoline, and any gas station wishing to sell hydrogen would have to be pretty much torn down, and dug up (hydrogen storage tanks aren't anything like gasoline/diesel tanks).