The corporations that construct these autos are eyeing the know-how but in addition retaining a view of how rules would possibly develop for clear transportation.
“We are continuing to invest in the combustion engine, and we are looking to see if we can use hydrogen in that application as well,” mentioned Jessica Sandström, senior vp, international product administration at Volvo Trucks.
“One of the uncertainties, of course, is the political decisions regarding zero emission,” Sandström mentioned. “Is it zero CO2 or is it zero emission, full stop? If you have a combustion engine, even with hydrogen, you will get very small emissions coming out, nitrogen oxide.”
Daimler Truck Group’s Detroit household of diesel engines can run on hydrogen, mentioned Martin Daum, Daimler Truck CEO.
“If we see a market coming, we can pull it off the pre-development stage and put it into a full-fledged project,” Daum informed Automotive News.
The truck firm is ready “because all the signals from regulators in Europe and California are to ban combustion entirely,” Daum mentioned.
But there’s prone to be room available in the market for hydrogen combustion engines someplace, and their compatibility with diesel engines is a bonus, mentioned Daniel Sperling, founding director of the University of California, Davis, Institute of Transportation Studies and a member of the California Air Resources Board.
“Just because Europe and California want something, that doesn’t mean that’s the whole market,” Sperling mentioned.
Still, he is skeptical the trade will deploy hydrogen combustion extensively.
“A fuel cell is much more efficient than combustion. You use less energy. You then don’t have the cost of expensive tanks on the vehicle. You don’t have the NOx emissions,” Sperling mentioned.
“No one knows how this will play out, and we are all trying to figure it out.”
https://www.newsncr.com/automobile/toyota-cummins-eye-hydrogen-combustion-engines/....
Toyota and cummins appear to be researching hydrogen combustion in the event of california and european proposed bans on fossil fuels being pushed through.
With high fuel costs being a major issue atm. What policies and steps should be taken to address it. Is the time ripe for alternative technologies to take over the gasoline economy to pave the way to a brighter future. I'm surprised there isn't more discussion or debate on the topic. It has been a long time since I have seen anyone complaining about anyone in the USA having to choose between eating or fueling their vehicle. Have people already found solutions to issues with high gasoline and food costs?
A hydrogen based economy is one potential alternative technology. More than a decade ago seemed like the peak time for hydrogen based investment. Many start ups experimented with portable hydrogen fuel cells which could be plugged into laptops and appliances to provide power. It was a modular based application which might have had potential if the cost of refining hydrogen were lower. Other start ups experimented with various hydrogen fuel storage solutions. There was one I remember that used borohydride as a fuel storage additive. They claimed that it prevented the possibility of fires breaking out in hydrogen fuel and went so far as to shoot their borohydride laden hydrogen fuel tank with guns to show its inertness.
There are definitely many options on the table. And it would seem crucial that people have access to good and reliable information in order to select the best option for themselves. Yet it seems that people are not interested in discussing or learning about these topics. And so it would seem the likelihood of progress being made in energy markets decreases. Unless the free market can be relied upon to do all the guesswork and throw money at the best solutions. Which is more or less how energy based markets have progressed over recent decades.
But still a lot of progress can be made by people learning about solar and other forms of energy and making an effort to diversify and decentralize their energy generation to encompass more than one source.
