Electric or hydrogen?

Imagine the day we get rid of all these petrol engine cars and have all electric, then we run out of lithium for batteries so we turn to hydrogen and engines again to get moving!

We also have heavier cars as batteries weigh so much and that is wearing out the rubber on tyres and the roads due to higher wear and tear. A friends Jaguar car is over 2 tonnes in weight, handles like a dream with that low centre of gravity but I wonder how long those tyres will last compared to normal. Lets not even talk about how we are getting all these vehicles charged up in towns and cities!

But its not just about cars because planes should be using hydrogen by about 2035 if Airbus are on target. They have three prototype designs on the board that use engine design and plane design in various ways to achieve the results. All most interesting and if the hydrogen can be made through renewable electric sources it will become the most amazing fuel source.

There is also a great use for large commercial vehicles from trucks to buses, that would work better with hydrogen as opposed to electric where these are hindered by the battery capacity.

The problem with hydrogen production currently is it is not being made with renewables on a scale that is sufficient – instead it is being made by separating it from natural gas – obviously not ideal. But if we can use the abundance of wind or solar on times when the production of either of these is in excess of what the grid actually needs, then you have a great way of using excess renewable power to create a great useful fuel.

Personally I’m in favour of nuclear powered cars, after all, if it can be used in a submarine why not a car?