Hydrogen Fuel Cell vs Battery Pack

"trmoore09" (trmoore09) 06/09/2014 at 10:09 • Filed to: None

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What do you think will be more common in the future? Will fuel cell vehicles catch on. Also, if someone in California could chime in, that would be great. Here in NC, we do not get the full selection of full electric cars, and definitely no fuel cell vehicles. We basically have the Leaf and Model S available, plus several plug-in hybrids. No 500e, focus electric, fit electric, etc.

I think the main thing holding full electric cars back is battery technology...

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spanfucker retire bitch > trmoore09 06/09/2014 at 10:12

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The only thing (in my opinion) that has a chance of supplanting fuel cell technology as the future mainstream automotive tech, is if they actually get Supercapacitor technology down in cost and way, way up in energy capacity. As great as the Tesla Model S, I'll never consider a pure EV anything but a local commuter car until I can recharge (or refill it) in a matter of minutes to full capacity.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > trmoore09 06/09/2014 at 10:14

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Successful EV technology is a prerequisite to fuel cells. They will have to get batteries affordable first (many people debate whether and when this will happen) before fuel cells even have a chance of catching on. The real question is whether ICE will be able to maintain is current advantage.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > spanfucker retire bitch 06/09/2014 at 10:15

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Yes, I would say 10-15 minutes would be my upper limit for charging my car. But if that can become a mainstream thing and we can get a 250+ mile range w/o range anxiety, pure-EV has a chance.

Alfalfa > trmoore09 06/09/2014 at 10:16

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While battery technology is certainly a drawback, it's getting better. EV's on the market today compared to 10 years ago are evidence of that. Not much has gone on in terms of hydrogen fuel cells as far as actual production goes. It looks like batteries will win out for the near future, since there is now money being made with them. Hydrogen research could eventually catch up.

trmoore09 > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 06/09/2014 at 10:21

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What about if/when Tesla installs the battery pack swapping option at its stations? Think this is a viable option? That takes about 90 secs IIRC.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > trmoore09 06/09/2014 at 10:44

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Its possible but then the argument for and simple and cost efficient EV infrastructure is lost. That why the Better Place startup (now out of business, interesting read about that)tried to start in small captive markets such as Hawaii and Israel.

trmoore09 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 06/09/2014 at 11:15

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Yea, I think the current factors holding it back is the lack of infrastructure (we're slowly getting there) and charging times. DC charging speeds that up, but you're still looking at 30 minutes or so.

trmoore09 > spanfucker retire bitch 06/09/2014 at 11:18

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Yea I hear you. But for me, even when we travel, it's usually within the ~200 mile range of the 60kwh Model S. Even if we were to go on a long trip, I wouldn't mind having to stop every 200/250 miles for 30 mins. Gives you time to take a break and get some drink/food/go to the bathroom/etc.

trmoore09 > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 06/09/2014 at 11:20

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That's very true. What about Level 3 DC charging (tesla, chademo, J1772)? I don't think a 30 minute charge time is too bad for current technology (better than 6-8hrs) and that should get better (eventually) with better technology.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > trmoore09 06/09/2014 at 11:23

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Yeah, I think if these cars get into 350-400 mile range territory the infrastructure expenses would decrease and became more realistic to deploy nation-wide, you could make 700-800 miles of progress with one stop for bathroom/food/charge, which would be a good days work on a road trip.

I wonder if we'll see the day where companies will deduct EV charging directly from you paycheck, lol.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > trmoore09 06/09/2014 at 11:42

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Eventually is the key word. This whole experiment hinges on battery tech. I would argue that until range anxiety is mostly eliminated market share won't grow quickly. Level 3 charging is admirable but its still too long for most folks and no where near available enough. They've been working on battery tech for well over a century and it hasn't gone any where in a hurry.