Thread: Electric Shapps
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Old September 10th 19, 12:30 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Roland Perry Roland Perry is offline
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Default Electric Shapps

In message , at 12:18:46 on Tue, 10
Sep 2019, MissRiaElaine remarked:
Certainly, hydrogen is better at the consumer level: the cars are lighter,
quicker to fill, and have more range. They also don't need so much exotic
materials as batteries do.
But the industry would need to crack the problem of producing and
distributing clean hydrogen, probably from solar or wind power, on an
industrial scale, at an affordable price. I really hope that happens, but
it's obviously not imminent. So, in the mean time, low emissions cars will
have to use batteries.
When hydrogen does become viable, it'll probably come first to
heavy, long
distance vehicles, like trains, tracks and high performance highway cars.
Short range city cars will probably stick with batteries, but they'll get a
lot quicker to charge than current ones.


Here in Aberdeen, we have a local car club, where people can hire cars
for short periods from an hour upwards. There are all types, from
standard petrol cars to diesel vans and electric cars such as the
Renault Zoe. There are also a few hydrogen cars, initially the LHD-only
Hyundai ix35 (which was lovely to drive) and also now some Mitsubishi
Mirai cars, which are amazing.

Fuelling and range are problems, but there is a fleet of hydrogen buses
here in the city, so the cars can use that, and there is also another
car-only fuelling station. Range is the main problem though, it's just
possible to get to Edinburgh and back on a tank-full, but I wouldn't
want to push it..! The next station south is Sheffield, so you see the
problem..!

It's quite possible to generate hydrogen locally at the filling
station, there is at least one such installation in London that I'm
aware of, although I don't recall the exact location. Solar power is
ideal; there are numerous wind turbines in this area, when not required
for the grid, they could be used to generate hydrogen. Distribution
shouldn't be that much of a problem, we already have a large fleet of
petrol tankers, they would just need adapting.


It was going so well until that last sentence!
--
Roland Perry