OK, now where's my flying car?

[unixronin]

Also on C|Net:  Honda officially launched the world's first production fuel-cell car on Sunday.  The Honda FCX Clarity delivers a combined-cycle driving range of about 72 miles per kilogram of hydrogen, which Honda says is equivalent to 74mpg in a gasoline-fueled car.  The car has a 280-mile range, implying it can hold about four kilos of hydrogen.

The Clarity will be offered for lease in three California cities (Costa Mesa, Santa Monica, and Torrance) for about $600 a month, starting in July./p>

Of course, hydrogen cars are not going to be widely driven anytime soon.  Honda estimates it will lease only about 200 FCX Clarity vehicles over the next three years.  In order to qualify for the lease program, would-be owners will have to meet a set of criteria that includes living within range of a hydrogen filling station, according to Honda.  As part of the lease, Honda will provide any necessary service or maintenance on the vehicle.

The biggest obstacle in mass market appeal of hydrogen-powered vehicles vs. gas-electric hybrids is where owners could fill up their cars.  While the U.S. Department of Energy has been a proponent of hydrogen fuel as an alternative energy for cars, there are currently few hydrogen-fuel filling stations the U.S.

Assuming you manage to qualify in the first place, good luck finding a place to fill it up away from home.

(See also this article on the hydrogen energy chain.)

Comments

[smandal.livejournal.com]

Hydrogen requires three times the concentration in vapor of hydrocarbon fuels to ignite, and because it is so light it evaporates ten times faster than gasoline. (source (http://www.plugpower.com/technology/Hydrogen%20Brochure.pdf), PDF) Also, why would you keep it pressured, when you can keep it cryogenic?

Seems safer on the whole than having gas tanks around.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

What the Brochure does not address is how hydrogen tends to make materials that it comes into contact with brittle. They also suggest a storage pressure of 2,400 psi, less than half of what the new Honda requires. I am concerned with the high pressure aspect of storage. (I saw a dropped size 'E' oxygen tank go through a reinforced concrete wall.) Cryogenic poses some problems, but they can be overcome, My concern would be the energy to drop the temperature within the home. (20 Kelvin is pretty cold!)

I do know that home battery systems are required to be vented due to the release of small quantities of hydrogen during charge cycles. That does not fill me with warm fuzzies.

I am not opposed to a hydrogen economy and infrastructure. I do think that there are too many unsolved issues to make it a reality in the next decade. Foremost, we need an economical, commercial method to generate the stuff other than from natural gas.