Comments on: Hydrogen Fuel Cells – The Basic Facts https://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/automotive-design/hydrogen-fuel-cells-the-basic-facts/ News and views about cars in Australia Fri, 19 Jun 2020 14:18:26 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.5 By: Dave https://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/automotive-design/hydrogen-fuel-cells-the-basic-facts/#comment-7272 Tue, 22 Jan 2019 04:38:11 +0000 http://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/?p=9158#comment-7272 It is interesting how dangerous dihydrogen monoxide is as waste product being as it is usually only a carrier of pollutants. Certainly, a lot of deaths are caused directly by breathing in its liquid form and conversely, a lot of lives are saved by imbibing this liquid.
If we use a chemical approach here we all will be able make more sense of this authors twist.
dihydrogen monoxide ie di 2 and hydrogen chemically is H (getting where I am going here) and a monoxide is O.
Yes, correct H2O (water to the average layperson).

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By: Jason https://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/automotive-design/hydrogen-fuel-cells-the-basic-facts/#comment-7270 Mon, 21 Jan 2019 20:42:05 +0000 http://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/?p=9158#comment-7270 While Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) do source their electricity from the grid, that can be mainly coal or other fossil fuels, the same can be said for the manufacture of hydrogen. As the grid gets cleaner then the BEV and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle (HFCV) will get greener. Hydrogen manufactured by fossil fuels vs Lithium Ion batteries (of which a HFCV also has a battery).
The BEV is a VERY simple design, there is the battery and there is the motor and there is the electronics to control it, and this means the dealer networks are worried because it means LESS servicing. A HFCV is a pretty complicated system, certainly not as bad as the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) but still likely to require more servicing than the BEV, so dealers are probably more interested in that.
The other aspect is efficiency. With the BEV you just put the electricity (hey, it could come from your home solar panels) into the battery and then take it out of the battery to drive the motors. Notice that part about your home solar panels, that’s right you can charge the battery at home, just like your mobile phone. Contrast that to the HFCV, you have to use electricity to make hydrogen (in a BEV you just put that electricity into your battery), then you have to use electricity to compress the hydrogen so that it can be stored (in a BEV you just put that electricity straight into the battery), then you need to transport the hydrogen to the service station (that’s right, you guessed it, the power to move the hydrogen could have been used directly in your BEV to move you, not the hydrogen), and then you need to use electricity to pump the hydrogen into your HFCV (again, that electricity could have just been put into your battery), and finally there is the chemical reaction that turns the hydrogen into electricity (isn’t that what we started with that we just put straight into our BEV?). Oh, that’s right, we got water as a by-product (the BEV has NO by-products, truely zero emissions).
So who else has a vested interest in HFCV? You guessed it, the Service Stations and Fossil Fuel industry. With a BEV you just charge it at home (or where ever you park the car at night, more work needs to be done in that regard) but with the HFCV you have to drive to the Service Station, so if you like Service Stations then you’re good to go, but if you prefer to spend that time doing something else then BEV might appeal to you.
How do I know? It’s because I drive a BEV. Haven’t been to a Service Station in more than 2yrs. Every single day my car has a full take of electricity. The costs have been hugely reduced (less maintenance, about 1/3 the cost of a petrol/diesel car in fuel. By the way, Hydrogen currently costs about twice the price of petrol/diesel, so really who wants to pay twice the price to refill? The car companies try to hide this by including it as part of the lease). BEV still have a long way to go in Australia, but HFCV haven’t even started, so if you think it is a problem to drive a BEV, then imagine the impossibility to drive a HFCV. There is a huge push for HFCV, I don’t understand why. Do some simple research and it just does not make sense to us consumers, it makes heaps of sense to the Fossil Fuel industry and to a lesser degree to the Dealerships.

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By: Gary Brown https://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/automotive-design/hydrogen-fuel-cells-the-basic-facts/#comment-7267 Mon, 21 Jan 2019 07:31:00 +0000 http://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/?p=9158#comment-7267 Thankyou for clearing up how HFC cars work.

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By: ted Vause https://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/automotive-design/hydrogen-fuel-cells-the-basic-facts/#comment-7265 Mon, 21 Jan 2019 04:31:25 +0000 http://www.privatefleet.com.au/blog/?p=9158#comment-7265 hydrogen gas can be used to power vehicle by using electricity & water which is generated as you drive

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