I hate hybrids and I hate electric cars, too.
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| This sure is an expensive logo. |
I mean, I understand why everyone is attracted to the idea. We want to use less gas when we drive. We need to use less. Gas is expensive. Pollution is bad. Hybrids can help, but they don't always. In many cases you could end up spending more money on gas with a hybrid than without, depending on your driving habits. Electrics aren't much better, since the environmental impact and cost of getting the car on the road outweighs any benefits.
I just think we're going about it the wrong way. I don't think we need to use less gas. I think we need to use a different kind of gas.
Gasoline is actually a pretty crappy fuel source. It burns slow, so we lose a lot of power when we burn it... that's lost horsepower. It also pollutes quite a bit. And it's expensive thanks to scarcity.
Guess what happens when you use hydrogen as fuel in an internal combustion engine like the one in your car? It burns fast. It actually burns a lot faster than gasoline. Because it burns faster, you get a lot more horsepower. And... It actually cleans the air as you drive. Polluted air goes into your engine, clean air and water vapor come out of the tailpipe. Also, scarcity isn't an issue at all.
Wow, your hybrid seems pretty silly at this point, doesn't it? I mean, sure you might pollute less, but you still pollute. So if I'm driving a hydrogen powered car and you're driving a hybrid gasoline/electric, I'm cleaning the air that you pollute, and I'm getting way more horsepower out of my engine while I'm doing it. And I didn't have to buy an expensive car to make it happen...
There is a guy who actually developed a system that you keep in your garage and hook up to a solar panel or wind turbine that sits in your back yard or on your house. You literally just add water and this thing makes hydrogen for you. What that amounts to is virtually free fuel for your car. Your super horsepower car that cleans the air as you drive. Wait...
Free fuel... for life?
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| That's got to piss somebody off, right? |
The best part? You actually put this system on your car. It would work with almost any engine on the road. Not buying a new car is better for your wallet, and the environment. Unfortunately, this system is not available to the public. But I sure wish it was. Maybe if more people were informed and talking about it we might see enough of a push from the market to get it out to us. I'm not sure it will happen anytime soon, with all the focus on hybrids.
That's the way I see it.
I have to take issue with your quick dismissal of EVs. I reckon your argument against them is similar to that put forth by Ozzie Zehner in his book Green Illusions, wherein he argues that the energy cost and raw materials mining needed to produce an EV somehow negates the benefit of freeing oneself of a fossil fuel source at the point of use.
ReplyDeleteRather than poke holes in this argument myself, I'll direct you to this article in Wired which effectively rebuts Zehner's claim.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles hold a lot of potential. But so do EVs. Liking one doesn't mean you have to hate the other. Either is better than burning dinosaur juice just to get to work and back.
~ cgp
Thanks for the comment! I really didn't address my problems with EVs in my post, sorry about that.
DeleteEVs cost a lot of money, especially when compared to converting an existing car into a hydrogen burning vehicle. You're looking at 15-30k more to buy an electric vehicle. There are a few DIY'ers out there who have converted their cars into EVs, but they literally had to remove the entire engine and drive train to make space. Then they filled up the space under the hood, in the trunk, under the seats, and, in some cases, even removing the back seat to make space for batteries. And all of that for about the same cost of converting to hydrogen burning.
And batteries don't last forever, even rechargeable ones need to be replaced. And batteries are toxic. Let's not forget that the average consumer is plugging in at home, and getting their juice from the grid, which is often not clean or green energy.
But to convert most every car on the planet? Which would be the ideal? I think converting cars to burn hydrogen that cleans the air is a much better idea than converting cars to run on battery power. Maybe that will be different in 20 years when some miraculous change to battery technology occurs. Only time will tell.
That's the way I see it.
when will there be a car with a nucular power cell
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