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World-first home hydrogen battery

Discussion in 'Fuel Cell Vehicles' started by bwilson4web, Jan 23, 2021.

  1. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Source: World-first home hydrogen battery stores 3x the energy of a Powerwall 2

    Then there's the efficiency. Batteries store and release energy with minimal losses; for every kilowatt-hour your rooftop array generates and sticks into a battery, you'll get back more than 90 percent of it. But the process of generating hydrogen by electrolysis using a proton exchange membrane is only about 80 percent efficient, so you lose 20 percent straight away. And at the other end, you'll lose somewhere around half of what you've got stored in the process of converting the hydrogen back into energy through a fuel cell.

    So not only does it take more energy to fill up, a 40-kWh hydrogen energy storage system might start looking a lot like a 20-kWh system when you actually try to get the energy back out of it. The Lavo folks say this system's "round-trip efficiency is above 50 percent," so taking them at their word, you're still tossing out roughly as much energy as you're keeping.

    Fuel cell efficiency is terrible compared to battery based systems.

    Bob Wilson
     
  2. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    got to give it to the hydrogen industry, they really try & try to push their product. that way we can continue using fossil fuels, for the most part, to reform hydrogen
     
  3. jzchen

    jzchen Newbie!

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    I currently have a gas generator as backup if there's a scheduled brown/black out. I'm guessing efficiency is better than burning gasoline? If that's the case then good alternative if you think in those terms.

    moto g(7) power ?
     
  4. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    The big problem here is it is much more expensive than a gasoline generator and about the same cost as a battery that has a lot more power and can provide more energy.

    Drive costs down and this type of technology makes sense for businesses that need power back up (hospitals, data centers, etc.). Still a bloom box with storage can provide these businesses with regular power from natural gas, biogas, along with green hydrogen. They are definitely too expensive for the home market though, and need to come down in price to be truly competitive.
    Bloom Energy Soars After Launch Into Green Hydrogen Market | Greentech Media