UK's first fuel cell-powered black cab hits the streets of London

Awesome!!!

 

I have tried hard not to bite the bait but I just can't help myself.

0-60 in 14 seconds!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha

They also haven't made note of the cost - assuming they are actually for sale. The cheapest original 'black cab' is about £28k for a basic version so God only knows how much this would cost.

 

This technology would be great for places like New York City, where you have no need to reach 60mph anyway.

Good question about cost.

 

Where does the hydrogen come from? How much does it cost to produce, both in dollar terms and emissions?

 

(sigh ... ) ... I hear rumor is that they got fuel cel Vehicles down from one MILLION dollars, to a paltry $500,000 - $600,000. Heck if you made 'em in volume, they'd likely only be $150,000 ... man, at THAT price, I might just by TWO of 'em if/when they're ever practical ... like in 200 or 300 years.

Yea, the REAL trick of course, is building the trillion dollar hydrogen highway ... because we need that trillion for more important things, like the military budget ... so we can stay bogged down in the oil rich countries ... protecting 'freedom'. And who cares that it takes about 4x as much power to separate out hydrogen, than if you'd have simply used the source power as transportation in the first place. Yep ... I'm on board with this idea.

 

The technology is far from mature, sure, but it needs to be moved forward. I applaud this effort and hope that it spurs more research and investment.

 

I can just see it now ... a bunch of distracted drivers cruising down America's highways, Starbucks in one hand, cell phone in the other hand, weaving in and out of traffic, completely unaware of their surroundings, not using their turn signals (because they don't have any free hands), .. and all the while driving HINDENBURGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gasoline burns (think of squirting lighter fluid on a camp fire), But hydrogen EXPLODES!
And will you have semi-trucks full of hydrogen driving to refill hydrogen stations?

image source/credit: http://astroprofspage.com/archives/932

 

As I understand, the best way right now is to use electricity to produce hydrogen from water via electrolysis. I don't know what the net efficiency is, I guess it all depends on what is used to produce that electricity in the first place.

It would be helpful to have some comparative charts of total costs for FC vs EV cars.

The DoD even have some FC-powered airplanes, I believe...

 

So you install solar panels on the roof of your house and a windmill in your backyard to perform hydrolysis and turn a compressor to compress the hydrogen into a pressurized tank so that you can run your car?
I thought fresh water was becoming more and more limited with climate change. I thought droughts were becoming more common. So, we just use the stuff up in our cars instead of watering crops and drinking it?
Wouldn't it be easier to just charge my car directly from solar panels on the roof of my house, directly into a Li-Ion battery?

 

Yes. No matter what energy source is used to generate hydrogen, it would be more efficient to use that source directly. Not to mention cheaper, with less emissions. Maybe I'm completely misunderstanding the whole process, but I just don't get the fascination with hydrogen.

 

The facination stems from thinking you get something for nothing. It's like extracting gold from sea water ... yes the oceans contain trillions of dollars in gold ... we have the technology ... and we've done it. But the reason it's not PRACTICAL to do it large scale is because it takes more energy (produced) than the value of gold yielded. Same with hydrogen. You have to produce more energy than the yield of hydrogen you end up with. So yes, you got it right. Research has been going on since the 1960's. Researchers keep saying that "we're only 5 or 10 years away from the point where hydrogen is practical". Then they said the same thing in the 1970's ... then again in the 1980's ... then the 1990's ... and the 2000's ... now were in the 2010's ... you guessed it. What, you expect researchers don't know what side of the bread that there butter is on?

It's disturbing to many that we keep throwing money at hydrogen. NOT so much because of the research per se ... but rather the hundreds of millions that could have been thrown at battery capacity/charge speeds R&D. Where would we be today, if those R&D dollars (for SIX decades) had been put into battery's proven capabilities. Who know.

 

There are plenty of highways in NYC.

If you're taking a cab from Manhattan to JFK, you will hit 55-60mph+ (assuming no jams)

 

But even the Li-ion batteries require energy to produce, don't they?? Those chemicals and metals aren't free either, and at some point there will be shortages of that stuff too.

If we can come up with more sustainable ways to produce hydrogen, say, with geothermal energy, then I don't understand why this cannot be another non-fossil fuel option.

Many countries are experimenting with or investing in this technology. I'm sure they're quite aware of the issues you guys are raising since they have money in the game, not just talk.

Btw, fuel cell principles were discovered way back in the early 19th century, so it's nothing new, of course.

 

Most yellow cabs operate within the city though. Airport cabs generally are white (I just took one two weeks ago). Still, acceleration is not critical for this type of application. Luggage room and fuel efficiency are.