Cali

Hydrogen is inefficient.
Give me a car with a mini nuclear reactor in it. lol Anyways batteries are far from dead. Batteries are probably a more efficient way to store energy. They may have issues now like long charges, heavy, doesn't last long, etc but it not like those problems can't be fixed. Liquid fuels are like Hard Disk, Batteries are like SSD.

SiXiam

But, the generator engine plant construction is on hold.
http://gm-volt.com/

Oh well my next car will be a Honda Fit anyway...

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awdrifter

Hydrogen is definitely not the future. It takes energy to break the H atoms from water, then you got to use hydrogen to generate electricity. You're converting the energy twice, that's got to be less efficient than just storing electricity in a battery. Hopefully Intel will bring some innovations into this. Maybe it'll allow the Tesla Roadster to drop it's prices to an equivalent Elise's level.

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jinja_ninja

I <3 Top Gear.

I know my statement earlier was a harsh one, which most of you seem to flapping about.

I've never liked electric cars anyway. Yes, I know there are some electric sports cars, but please, where is the fun?

I thought the concept of a hydrogen powered car was certainly an interesting one.

I don't believe in man-made global warming anyway, so I don't see any reason not to rev a nice petrol V8 in a forest, just for kicks.

airbozo

Not true.

Hydrogen is still too expensive to produce and transport. There are only a handful of places across the country to fill up and there are no hydrogen powered cars that you and I could buy.

Batteries will continue to develop and shrink in size with longer life.

Tesla has made use of common sorts of laptop batteries to power their car and it is NOT slow and has ~250 mile range. It is just expensive for now.

BTW isn't Andy part of Tesla somehow? No wonder he wants to use Intel to help develop batteries...

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jinja_ninja

I've actually met the chief engineer and designer for the Tesla and saw Damon Hill take it for a test drive. Its an impressive car, don't get me wrong, but the range needs sorting out.

In regards to the Hydrogen again, I certainly didn't stipulate that it is to take over with immediate effect. Of course it would be a gradual process over a 5-10 year period I imagine.

The Duke

And, at least in the US, our power grid can't take the load...
So where does it all end...
Make electric cars now... where is the power to come from... make electric cars now... where is the power to come from....
BLACK OUTS, thats where!

I'm lookng into solar, I need my folding juice

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airbozo

Once they figure out how to make Hydrogen for the same cost as petrol, then they may be on to something. Right now it takes huge amounts of energy to produce hydrogen. Not even close to worth it. I just don't see how even given 10 years the cost will come down. The TLC show I saw said it takes 3 times more energy to produce hydrogen than petrol. (and that also means 3 times the pollutants)

I hope they keep trying though. It may work out, but not soon.

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airbozo

BTW: I am waiting for Tesla to build their new plant here in San Jose so I can hit them up for a job... Maybe I can get an employee discount!

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AchunderG

except that the volt goes 40 miles on a single charge (satisfying the needs of 75% of american's daily commute), and also runs on gasoline in addition to the battery.