This is Government Motors for you - acting just like the government. They are partnering with a utility in Hawaii to put up about 25 hydrogen dispensing stations at a cost of $500k each to power fuel cell vehicles. The problem with that? Besides the $13 million in wasted money, the government itself has abandoned research into fuel cell vehicles. It is a technology best left to stationary applications for numerous reasons (more on this later). From The Detroit News: GM, Hawaii boost hydrogen
As I've said before, note the "pollution free" canard rolled out really early on in that video and in the Detroit News piece. It is simply not true. The fuel cell apologists will tell you incessantly that the only byproduct of hydrogen usage in a fuel cell is drinkable pure water and water vapor (which coincidentally is the #1 greenhouse gas in the atmosphere by far, but I digress). Well, that's fine, but what they do not tell you is that that hydrogen has to be manufactured. Where do they think it comes from? Rainbows? Pixie dust? That manufacturing requires vast quantities of electricity through a process called electrolysis. That is, you pass electricity through wires in water and it separates H2O into hydrogen and oxygen. The process is about 60% efficient. Then the hydrogen has to be separated, compressed to 10,000 psi or liquefied by means of extreme refrigeration. After all is said and done, only about 30% of the electrical energy is converted into chemical potential in the final hydrogen product only to be converted... back into electricity! That is one crappy middleman.
You can see the problem, no? Where does all that electricity come from? Coal. So when you fill your car up on hydrogen someday (which is to say never), you will really be filling up on coal. All you really did is move the pollution somewhere else and increased it dramatically! Congratulations. We in the scientific community call this "big picture" thinking. My introductory thermodynamics students can tell you that fuel cells for cars is basically pie-in-the-sky thinking and has been for some time. Dedicating more research into battery technology is the better way to go, IMO.
Electrolysis is not the only way to generate hydrogen of course, as there are alternate methods, such as one that a commenter pointed out in that prior post, but I am yet to see one that makes even close to economic sense. And even if a method could be somehow made to be economical (the 2nd law says "no way!"), you would have to rebuild every gasoline pump in the entire country at a cost of about $500,000 - $1,000,000 a pop (stimulus!). And then, trust the guy that smokes, uses his cell-phone and climbs in and out of his car generating static charge potential to now fill up on 10,000 psi hydrogen. Thanks, but I'll pass.
Did I mention there is a lot more hydrogen in a gallon of gas than in a gallon of liquid hydrogen?
General Motors Co. is taking a big step toward making hydrogen-fueled vehicles a retail reality — at least on the Hawaiian Islands.As I have pointed out in prior posts (Automotive Fuel Cell Research Is Officially Dead), this headline from the New York Times about says it all: U.S. Drops Research Into Fuel Cells for Cars. It was a boondoggle to begin with because the increasingly inconvenient laws of science were against it. Specifically, the first and second laws of thermodynamics. I've talked for some time about how I didn't like the fuel cell idea at all. At least not for automotive applications. First, here's a primer on fuel cell propaganda from Ballard Power:
The Detroit-based automaker will announce today it is partnering with 12 major stakeholders in the Aloha state to build a network for fueling hydrogen-powered cars.
The automaker itself won't provide the hydrogen fuel cell cars, a technology it's still developing. But GM is trying to ready the market for their introduction, which could be as soon as 2015, said Charles Freese, GM's executive director for fuel cell activities.
The project, code-named the Hawaii Hydrogen Initiative or H2I, includes government agencies, utility companies, gas retailers and the military, which has a large presence and many bases on the islands. It aims to install as many as 25 hydrogen fueling stations on Oahu by 2015 and work with utilities to find ways of piping the fuel throughout the island.
GM hopes to better understand the real-world benefits and challenges of hydrogen fuel as it seeks to build vehicles powered by this emissions-free energy source. Hydrogen fuel is more efficient than gasoline and only emits water vapor.
The automaker has spent $1.5 billion on hydrogen fuel research and has a test fleet of about 100 fuel cell Chevrolet Equinox vehicles on the road. ...
As I've said before, note the "pollution free" canard rolled out really early on in that video and in the Detroit News piece. It is simply not true. The fuel cell apologists will tell you incessantly that the only byproduct of hydrogen usage in a fuel cell is drinkable pure water and water vapor (which coincidentally is the #1 greenhouse gas in the atmosphere by far, but I digress). Well, that's fine, but what they do not tell you is that that hydrogen has to be manufactured. Where do they think it comes from? Rainbows? Pixie dust? That manufacturing requires vast quantities of electricity through a process called electrolysis. That is, you pass electricity through wires in water and it separates H2O into hydrogen and oxygen. The process is about 60% efficient. Then the hydrogen has to be separated, compressed to 10,000 psi or liquefied by means of extreme refrigeration. After all is said and done, only about 30% of the electrical energy is converted into chemical potential in the final hydrogen product only to be converted... back into electricity! That is one crappy middleman.
Electrolysis is not the only way to generate hydrogen of course, as there are alternate methods, such as one that a commenter pointed out in that prior post, but I am yet to see one that makes even close to economic sense. And even if a method could be somehow made to be economical (the 2nd law says "no way!"), you would have to rebuild every gasoline pump in the entire country at a cost of about $500,000 - $1,000,000 a pop (stimulus!). And then, trust the guy that smokes, uses his cell-phone and climbs in and out of his car generating static charge potential to now fill up on 10,000 psi hydrogen. Thanks, but I'll pass.
Did I mention there is a lot more hydrogen in a gallon of gas than in a gallon of liquid hydrogen?
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