Motors 0-60 in 4 seconds. 130Mph top speed...

Like charging batteries then.

currently producing enough power for a medium sized town

I never said we did.

Are you next going to patiently explain to us that the earth is indeed round?

I never said it would be so efficient as to be self reliant.. just more efficient as a result. You miss the point though. Burning hydrogen is less harmful than burning coal or oil. Given a choice, the less harmful option is probably the best one, unless it was so inefficient that the gains would be lost... which it isn't.

bollocks!

 

Thats a fat 70 amp charger they're using for that as well (they mention a special 220v 70 amp charginf circuit in the article)
That said I think its a cracking idea, its a step forward in the right direction just like hydrogen cars, we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

 

Hydrogen powered car use fuel cell see said link i sent they dont burn the hydrogen in the engine they react it with oxygen to provide electricty to powere a motor i can link you to sevral other links to confirm this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_car
http://www.science.org.au/nova/063/063key.htm

The problem regardless of whever your burning it in a power station or wat still doesnt solve our primary problem that you need to produce electricy to spilt water.
IF there number are roughly true and my maths is rite(feel free to correct me cos iam nt too sure to be honest)
so that 15400watts
15.5kw*2.5hr= 38.5Kwh
Anyone want to calulate how much it cost you charge it feel free.

 

Both BMW and Mercedez have produced hydrogen powered cars that use normal internal combustion engines. You clearly didn't read the link I posted did you? It's been done SOOOO many times, I can't even be arsed pointing to links anymore. The reaction is NOT too strong for the engine as you claim, but is in fact weaker.

As for electricity being used to produce hydrogen.. yes, but so does charging batteries, and the car in question, according to the web site, requires 70amps at 220V. That's a horrendous amount of power. Even assuming that the enviromental impact is the same for both electric and hydrogen, the hydrogen solution, to be honest, is better, as you end up with a proper car, not a performance milk float!

We're just going to have to agree to disagree.... but you CAN use hydrogen in a relatively normal piston engine.

 

The majority of energy stored in the fuel of a combustion engine is wasted as heat conducted through the engine. While obviously some is lost in the power station that charges the batteries, it is likely much more efficient and less polluting per watt (certainly in the case of nuclear) than a car's own engine.

 

ok maby i was wrong in one restrospect http://www.autoblog.com/2006/07/17/ford-first-to-begin-production-hydrogen-internal-combustion-engi/

 

I'm prepared to accept that.. as it's essentially a fact, so I'd look pretty stupid if I didn't. I AM biased, I'll admit that too. I just would rather go with a cleaner solution AND keep a proper engine tbh.

Electric cars being quiet will cause a problem with pedestrian fatalities as well I think.

Neither solution is perfect, but hydrogen seems to be the best solution to motor enthusiasts, but everyone else would argue for electric I think. I DO think that the problems with electric cars are more difficult to resolve than hydrogen tho. Range, weight, and number of batteries etc.

 

For enthusiasts, yes, for Joe public, leccy is should the infrastructure and battery charge times improve.
If more research goes into it, the better motors will be developed, but the internal combustion engine is pretty far advanced, yet, still massively inefficient.

 

Yeah, definitely. I do think that in a way it'd be a shame if we lost internal combustion engines (who doesn't love the sound of a V8 ) and so hydrogen would be a good way to keep them and their enthusiast groups active with less pollution.

For mainstream motors - ultimately, it boils down not to what is the best now, but how technological developments shape the drive forward (no pun intended). Predicting the future at a time when so much could be improved is quite difficult... developments in fuel cells, improvements in battery technology and changes in infrastructure are all things that will decide how we power future cars. I guess it's just a case of which becomes viable first.