Why Arent They Making More Hydrogen Cars

[Smokes]

I was watching Mr Wizard make hydrogen and he made a claim that most of the science community want to make hydrogen cars and this was filmed in the 80s. So you think they be everywhere by now but there are only 3 or so that are sold to the public. Why arent more companies making them if the tech is now available?

 

[GSP_37]

See Toyota Mirai. The dealership here built a hydrogen refueling station. There's a Youtube vid showing how refueling is done. Seems a bit tricky and takes some time, longer than regular gas pumping, I think.

 

[JSN]

Transportation costs and possibly fear of explosions. Would definitely be sick if it became feasible.

 

[ralphc1]

To get much range using hydrogen requires a considerable amount. It has to be pumped at 4500 to 10,000 psi into tanks strong enough to handle that pressure. It's expensive to provide that kind of pressure. Oxygen and CO2 are stored at around 2500 psi. The tanks are placed in a water tank while filling to keep them cool and contain fragments if a tank should fail. To keep it a liquid, it has to be cooled to -434 degrees F.

 

[Hurricane Brad]

Because consumers generally don't like exploding.

 

[Smokes]

Because consumers generally don't like exploding.

i think they are pretty safe. Toyota has one and has stations all over California but Only California. It does take about 5mins to charge like the other poster said but I would put up with that for cleaner emissions

 

[TheNinja]

Doc Brown is going to invent cars that run on beer and/or trash.

 

[no fat chicks]

Electric are fine

 

[Alphaboy]

Oil giants will NEVER allow non-gas vehicles to become the norm.

Not until gas runs out and they're not bringing in billions anymore.

 

[drstrangelov]

No infrastructure to fuel them and no models being produced that anybody would be inconvenienced to own. Toyota made a hydrogen Camry and Honda made one out of a fit, then there’s a handful of other test cars that are just existing models converted to run on different fuel. Electric cars got hot after Tesla made them aspirational, there’s nothing in the works powered by hydrogen that’s gonna attract the kind of following Tesla achieved with the model s.

 

[ralphc1]

Because consumers generally don't like exploding.

They keep buying Teslas.

 

[Benjamin Burton]

Because consumers generally don't like exploding.

Um... Gasoline is pretty combustible. I mean it's like one of the main reasons it's used as fuel.

 

[90 50]

Um... Gasoline is pretty combustible. I mean it's like one of the main reasons it's used as fuel.

A pressurized tank full of hydrogen is 1000x more likely to explode than a tank of gasoline

 

[Hurricane Brad]

i think they are pretty safe. Toyota has one and has stations all over California but Only California. It does take about 5mins to charge like the other poster said but I would put up with that for cleaner emissions

Eh it could be that they're pretty safe nowadays, I was mostly just being a smart-ass. IIRC it also takes a lot of electricity to produce hydrogen so that may be the real reason that it hasn't caught on in a big way.

 

[Cygnus A]

I was watching Mr Wizard make hydrogen and he made a claim that most of the science community want to make hydrogen cars and this was filmed in the 80s. So you think they be everywhere by now but there are only 3 or so that are sold to the public. Why arent more companies making them if the tech is now available?

Pure electric cars are superior technology now. They didnt have the battery and motor tech in the 80s when they were pushing hydrogen as the next big thing.