#33
Post
by Some newbie driver » 19 Jun 2023 17:09
Hydrogen alternatives are going to be a real bluff. Do anybody really believe it's a good idea to make ubiquitous the most reactive chemical element, putting it in the hands of all the jerks that are out there. It's explosive, highly flammable, "corrosive", cryogenic, his flames are almost invisible in daylight and had to be HIGHLY pressurized to be used in automotive fuel cells. Compared with Hydrogen, to take a deposit full of gasoline into a meeting of compulsive smokers seems a very safe idea.
Electric truck ARE the future, current Lithium batteries are the tech that isn't the future (mostly due their energetic density, a problem that also has hydrogen). There's lots of other more desirable batteries that had being under investigation in the last decade; hopefully soon some of them could start to reach mass production for some uses.
The other problem with EV vehicles is that is useless we made them all electric if that electricity doesn't come from sources that are way cleaner than the current mix of the grid. But that also applies to hydrogen.
At the end, the problem is that no option will be a reality just tomorrow. It cannot be replaced in a hurry the result of 90+ years combining combustion engines evolution plus batteries technology stagnation.
So, in the meantime, the debate should had to be: "how we can spent LESS energy". In the case of trucks: how we can move the same trucks with less energy? How to made them lighter? How to optimize it's efficiency? The routes they do? It's really needed for some cargoes to be hauled thousands of km/miles in truck? And so on and on... Instead of that, globalization is turning really weird and everyday more and more trucks carry mostly "air". I never saw so many 2-axled trailers in the highway than currently; with all that "parcel-fever" of purchase everything on Internet and having one parcel delivery for every damn thing, lots of times oversized boxes. It's like in the car space, instead of moving to more useful and sustainable vehicles; the current trend are useless and absurdly big SUV and derivatives. Mary-sues moms doing short trips on a perpetual traffic jam to bring her single sibling to school using 2.000+kg pseudo-tanks. All logic, all fine...
Regards