This is the way of the future

"Dsscats" (dsscats)
04/03/2016 at 02:12 • Filed to: None

A friend let me borrow his Mirai, and I honestly believe this will be the way of the future once oil and gasoline become impossible to use practically any more. I like the idea of an electric car, but it’s impractical for most families to have to wait hours in between charges if they have an active lifestyle. With a hydrogen car, it’s just a 15-20 minute fill up for the same amount of battery life.

It’s also rather enjoyable to drive. There’s instant torque, it’s smooth as hell, it’s easy to find the limits and surpass them on skinny tires. The lane departure system is hilariously fun to annoy, and the radar cruise control is awesome. For what it was meant to be (a hydrogen Prius), it works fantastically well.

I’ll be bringing it to the Petersen tomorrow morning for the Japanese Car Cruise In if anyone in SoCal wants to check it out.

DISCUSSION (44)

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:16

The future is electric cars, once we figure out how to charge a car-sized battery in a matter of minutes.

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge is already kind of going to help us get there. Some phones that feature Qualcomm’s chips are able to be charged in a snap.

In 30-70 years, it will be the same for electric cars’ batteries.

Dsscats > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
04/03/2016 at 02:17

This is an electric car. It charges in an incredibly short time.

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:18

it srsly takes THAT long to fill up?

Dsscats > bob and john
04/03/2016 at 02:20

Yep! It’s a rather slow process. The fun part is that the filler gets condensation all over it because of how cold the hydrogen is.

DrJohannVegas > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:20

Awesome. Was waiting to see your post about it. Like all energy storage media (batteries, hydrocarbons, etc.), there’s obviously advantages and disadvantages.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:23

How much did the fill up cost?

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:23

i was under the impression its like 5 minutes.

then again, your transfering 5000PSI of gas in there, so ehh

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:25

thats technically not true. its a hydrogen fuel cell car, not an electric one.

Dsscats > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
04/03/2016 at 02:27

Exactly $0

Dsscats > bob and john
04/03/2016 at 02:28

It is an electric car, in which hydrogen power is used to charge the batteries rather than just traditional charging.

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:33

you could argue that.

but your not plugging it into an electric socket, your filling it with hydrogen.

by that logic would you call a volt an electric car?

Dsscats > bob and john
04/03/2016 at 02:35

No, I would consider that a plug in hybrid since the engine can be used to drive the wheels.

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:38

but there is no direct connection between the motor and the wheels. that engine just powers a generator

Dsscats > bob and john
04/03/2016 at 02:39

“When the engine is running it may be periodically mechanically linked (by a clutch) to a planetary gear set, and hence the output drive axle, to improve energy efficiency”

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:41

want to link me to a schematic or something? i’m pretty sure that was just the connection to the generator (I could be wrong, but I want proof)

Dsscats > bob and john
04/03/2016 at 02:45

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/11/gm-…

Better job than I can explain it.

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:50

ahhhh, so basicly I fell for GM’s marketing. fair enough.

Birddog > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:51

What’s with the Merc?

Dsscats > bob and john
04/03/2016 at 02:53

Your quote perfectly describes everyone who bought an ELR

Dsscats > Birddog
04/03/2016 at 02:53

It’s one of the owner’s other cars.

Amoore100 > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:54

What I don't understand is why can't we all use biofuels and the like? We have plenty of methane, etc and it's easy to convert current cars to run cleanly on it, so why should we invest in these multi million dollar electrics and hydrogen cells when the answer is staring us in the face?

bob and john > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 02:55

if they didnt price at 30k over what it shoudl have cost, i think my parents would have bought one.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 03:23

Really? The hydrogen was free?

Dsscats > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
04/03/2016 at 04:06

Yep! Part of the deal with leasing the car.

CRider > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 04:27

Hydrogen is a net energy loss fuel. It takes more electricity to produce the hydrogen than you get out of it, it’s much more efficient to simply put the electricity into a battery in the car.

Maidee > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 05:07

Cool. I've never seen one of those before. I'll definitely keep an eye out tomorrow!

pitstop_pitowski > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 08:11

My father (an engineer who is a total gearhead and turned me into a jalop) has always said hydrogen will be the way to go. The byproduct is water! The only downside is harnessing it safely since it is a volatile gas (through compression, hence the condensation you noticed).

MuchWagon > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 08:22

whatever happened to BMWs H2 burning ICE? That kind of tech would be an excellent bridge to roll out the H2 infrastructure.

djmt1 > Amoore100
04/03/2016 at 09:03

To be blunt we need the bio parts for other things most notably food. The biggest challenge to biofuels is convincing everyone that farmers wont just abandon food production in hope of becoming their own gulf state.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 11:06

Does it cost anything to fill up?

Amoore100 > djmt1
04/03/2016 at 11:47

But growing isn't the only way. We have plenty of left over vegetable oil, methane, etc that is just wasted anyway.

Chasaboo > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 11:50

Hydrogen is stupid as a fuel.

“The entire process of electrolysis, transportation, pumping and fuel-cell conversion would leave only about 20 to 25 percent of the original zero-carbon electricity to drive the motor.” But in an EV or plug-in hybrid, “the process of electricity transmission, charging an onboard battery and discharging the battery would leave 75 to 80 percent of the original electricity to drive the motor.” So the hydrogen car is more like one third as efficient as the EV.

djmt1 > Amoore100
04/03/2016 at 12:02

Oh you meant in that regard. In that case, everyone else (like so many things) is just waiting for America to get on board. Take my city London, for example. The Cabs are fueled by waste oil from fish & chips shops. Awful smell but way better than the diesel fumes they’re usually spewing out.

Amoore100 > djmt1
04/03/2016 at 12:08

Ah, I guess we're just behind the curve as always and blinded by the light of Tesla.

BReLp7dzHM3ytYsE > pitstop_pitowski
04/03/2016 at 12:27

Hydrogen ICE hopefully

ranwhenparked > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 12:38

Also worth mentioning is that internal combustion engines can also be made to run on hydrogen, existing ones can even be retrofitted.

PS9 > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 12:48

it’s impractical for most families to have to wait hours in between charges if they have an active lifestyle.

That’s not true at all. I have an active lifestyle that requires me to be completely out of the house most of the week, but my car is still sitting inactive for at least 11 hrs everyday. An electric car could use that time to recharge, a thing I could do almost anywhere there is an outlet.

Even the most super-active family will have to come home and sleep sometime. Get out, plug your car in and wake up to a full tank, no waiting required.

Dsscats > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
04/03/2016 at 21:40

Not with the deal you get when leasing it.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 21:41

How often do you have to fill up and what’s the availability?

Dsscats > PS9
04/03/2016 at 21:42

Just because it fits your lifestyle doesn’t mean it fits everyone’s. And a super active family who wanted to dossomething like a road trip would have troubles doing that without range anxiety. Many places would likely not let you plug in because of convenience or cost issues.

Dsscats > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
04/03/2016 at 21:50

There are 12 to 15ish stations spread out around LA, and every 250 to 300 miles

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Dsscats
04/03/2016 at 21:51

It would actually be practical if there was greater Hydrogen availability.

PS9 > Dsscats
04/04/2016 at 00:18

Just because it fits your lifestyle doesn’t mean it fits everyone’s. And a super active family who wanted to dossomething like a road trip would have troubles doing that without range anxiety.

Come on with that. You aren’t doing road trips 100% of the time you own a vehicle. You have to go to work and earn a living all the other times you aren’t on vacation, and your car is going to be sitting there not doing anything for all of the time you work your shift, time that could be spent recharging a battery.

Many places would likely not let you plug in because of convenience or cost issues.

Kinja'd!!!

Convenience? Cost? We are surrounded by electrical infrastructure, and the cost of a new charging station is going to be a lot lower than a hydrogen station would be; it’s a phone booth versus a whole new building . Also, it can be anywhere you are. Being able to recharge no matter where you go mitigates the range anxiety issue by a lot, since there are going to be times you vehicle isn’t going anywhere or doing anything for a large chunk of the time you have it.

I think you’re playing up the range anxiety angle up a bit more than is warranted. Only the Leaf offers a sub-100 mile range. Everyone else in the market is north of 200 miles, which is completely acceptable. If I had a Model 3 or a bolt with my current commute (277 miles split between 5 different places), I’d only have to recharge once every five days. If I with my fragmented schedule can find 11 hours out of every day to do that, then I don’t see how someone with a more normal 9-5 schedule at one job could not.

H2 Fan > Dsscats
04/10/2016 at 03:52

For people that wonder where the H2 will come from:

Some good Mirai info: http://reddit.com/r/Mirai

Solar/Wind Hydrogen - the fuel of the future is now. An industry is born.