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by the_duke
2351 days ago
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I find it very interesting how stubbornly Toyota is sticking to hydrogen/fuel cells. The rest of the market seems to have accepted that the big downsides of hydrogen based solutions (need for extensive transport + storage infrastructure, difficult containment, horrible end to end efficiency, ...) make batteries the better solution. Tesla seems bound to demonstrate that even semis are already viable with current technology, and battery research is bound to reduce price, weight and longevity further. We may find chemistries that rely less on materials like cobalt, nickel, copper. Is it pride and inability to accept failure, or are there valid reasons for this and Toyota could still emerge as a big winner? It seems unlikely to me for personal cars. Hydrogen seems better suited for energy storage, trains and airplanes. |
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Japan (and China, Europe and other regions) are investing in hydrogren based mobility. Japan has a bit over 100 fuel cell stations right now, and aims for over 300 stations and 200k vehicles in 5 years. [0] Toyota is one of the companies creating both the stations and also hydrogen based vehicles. They also sold about 3k of their hydrogen-based Mirai cars [2].
German company Bosch only started hydrogen fuel cell production in 2019 [1].
This is all very miniscule compared to the electic cars of today, but a hydrogen economy has a few important advantages, IMO the most important one is that hydrogen production can occur at times when energy is in abundance, which gets more and more important with rewewables based energy networks. Vehicles can also be fueled just as fast as ICE vehicles today, and hydrogen has much higher energy density than current battery technology.
From a strategic POV it makes sense for countries to look at hydrogen.
[0] https://www.airliquide.com/magazine/energy-transition/hydrog...
[1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/15/business/corpor...
[2] https://www.hindustantimes.com/autos/toyota-nissan-honda-amo...