Can’t say were not shooting for the stars... None of these will ever make it to the road. GM said their hydrogen technology may be about 10 years away from possibly being in production. It just costs too much.

Love it... nice set of designs. Loving wheel based motors.. and think software (to keep crashing off map) will really expand design options!

Keep H2 dialogue open– and don’t buy into the ’it will never happen’ argument.

People once overhyped H2, and now they underestimate it. It’s batteries that are the true dead end. This is a multi-decade long transition- and I’m not ruling out H2.

Cars are not iPods and batteries alone will not lead this transition. Eventually ’electric’ cars will have integrated batteries, H2 fuel cells and capacitors. Not one device rules them all.

It won’t happen overnight- but solid hydrogen storage (e.g. MOFs), non-precious metal catalysts for fuel cells and nanostructured catalysts for production from electrolysis (as well as algae and natural gas) will emerge.

Cynics are just too narrow in their time horizon- and victims of paradigm thinking (and misinformed Comments section hysteria that Hydrogen is somehow a hoax.)

Mother nature stores energy in molecules... and H2 makes perfect sense in a world where need another extension of electricity. B/c electrons are just a nightmare- so are ion batteries.

Now the battery people must face the hype cycle... how many wall sockets will we actually need? How long will the cords be? Plugging in w/ batteries, (not H2) is the true dead end road.

Love the concepts..! Thanks!

Garry G
Editor

The Energy Roadmap

See: Google Knol
RecoveryByDiscovery.com
YThe New Atlantis

Our engineers, need to to face the technical challenges with hydrogen, which will take several miracles to succeed.

All others, that do not know the engineering challenges, need to stop hyping something like hydrogen cars, that were and are, taking resources from far better present bets, to help save our planet.

We can only have sustainable and efficient cars by making biodiesel plug in hybrids, until we have something better.

We can grow plants like jatropha on poor land and get far more energy out than we put in right now. A

And, we already had over 70 mpg diesel hybrid prototype cars, developed by GM, Ford, and Chrysler with government help, during the Clinton presidency.

Perhaps this helps explain why US auto companies are in danger of dying out now.

Michael,
I’m not sure that miles per gallon is the reason why automobile makers are hurting. There are a host of reasons- but the most important is the cost and complexity of building mechanical engines.

There are too many factories, (non-standard) parts/suppliers, et al - and the chassis is built and sits on a parking lot until a new buyer comes along.

So changing how we build cars is the real opportunity. I’m not sure I’d put any money on incrementally tweaking the combustion engine or developing a liquid fuel alt to oil to feed it.

Electric drive trains are coming along nicely, and I’d respectfully disagree with the ’miracles’ needed to make hydrogen happen. I’ve seen this conversation on the web deteriorate into ’H2 will never happen’ language and it’s just wrong. A close look at the pace and state of H2 solid state storage and fuel cells is not discouraging at all. We’re just at the beginning phases.

So I’m not sure biofuels (though I am pro Jatropha/algae/cellulosic!) or better mpg solve any problems. It doesn’t change the cost structure of building cards.

We have to change how we manufacture and sell cars. And electric systems with batteries, fuel cells and capacitors allow us to shift to a leaner, more module manufacturing base. (e.g. GM’s Autonomy)

Just my two cents!
Garry G
Editor
The Energy Roadmap.com