If one uses natural gas to produce hydrogen, the CO2 released during the process of making the hydrogen is the same amount as if the natural gas had been used directly to power a vehicle.

Burning coal is the main source for electricity that would power electric cars.

Electric cars of the same size as internal combustion engine driven cars are likely to be twice as expensive.

It is idealistic to think that both gasoline and ethanol can be discontinued in favor of electric cars now. There are approximately 240 million internal combustion engine cars and small trucks in the U. S. Ethanol is much better than gasoline for the environment. To protect the environment, ethanol should be dramatically increased in use until there is a cheaper, more consumer-attractive and environmentally-better replacement for ethanol.

It’s good to be idealistic about the future, but important to stay grounded in reality. The GM executive in charge of the GM hydrogen fuel cell car project estimates that the first such car is expected to be ready to sell to consumers on a mass basis in 2050. During that time, it is projected that the internal combustion engine will be improved to the point where it gets 80 miles per gallon in a mid-sized car.

The Chevrolet Volt, a planned 2010 plug-in hybrid, for which electricity would come 40% from coal, has an estimated purchase price of $40,000. A small similarly sized internal combustion engine car costs about $20,000.

Gary Schwendiman, Ph.D.

Hydrogen equals energy storage. In your system of the electric machine you can simply replace energy storage with hydrogen, as it replaces the battery and you don’t end up having to recycle the battery. (I didn’t know, however, that some batteries are to 99% recycled as someone mentioned earlier. Does anyone know where I can find more information about the recyclability of batteries?)

Thanks

Moreover, consider that the working cycle of an electric machine is:
produce electricity->store electricity->engine

in the case of hydrogen working cycle you have:
produce electricity->produce hydrogen->store hydrogen->burn (or whatever) hydrogen->engine

Now the hydrogen working cycle have more steps and so a better chance to have lower efficiency (and so higher costs). The only cases where would be useful to have hydrogen are where is needed a high energy density (per mass unit), like airplanes, missiles and everywhere the weight is important.

Hydrogen is good, electricity is better

Do not confuse a hydrogen powered car with an internal combustion engine car. Hydrogen is a good way to generate electricity for an electric engine.

So yes.. Electric cars are the wave of the future. We do not know for sure what will be the best source of transportable energy… yet.

I would say more but science guru pretty much covered everything.

Trouble with models like STREET is they cannot factor in new and quietly developing technologies. They can’t = those are not known so far in advance. So they just extrapolate current trends. Modelers mean well, but really don’t produce much to match their hype.

1- Battery technology is advancing very quickly, there are the present lithium batteries, these produce 2 to 3 times the charge density when compared to conventional lead acid batteries. The newest batteries with combinations of lithium and other elements are yet another 2 to 3 times again efficient.
2- These batteries will extend the range to around 300 miles before needing recharge.
3- The average person (95%) drives less than 35 miles a day. Most places of business will have charge capacity by 2060. (drive to work, charge your car)
4- All energy needed to recharge a car can come from simple solar or wind sources.
5- Solar and wind installation cost is dropping dramatically, it is now cheaper to install either source of power than it is to purchase energy from a utility, particularly in places where utility cost are extremely high (like Hawaii, where electric utility cost are tied to petroleum prices).
6- The cost to install the infrastructure for hydrogen conversion fuel across the nation or for that matter around the world is in the multi-trillions of dollars. (There are already electric outlets everywhere)
7- If we are going to use alternate energy to produce the Hydrogen to then put it into a car; why not skip the extra step of Hydrogen production and just put pure electric in its simplest form into batteries?
8- Batteries are at present 99% recycled, This is a valuable mineral commodity that is not and will not go into a landfill. The infrastructure already exist to recycle batteries on a large scale.
9- We the people are sick to death of some large corporation having control of fuel prices; to raise or lower (mostly raise) at any given whim. Hydrogen stations will be more of the same jerking around, just a different fuel. This is why the big oil companies are pushing so hard for Hydrogen.
10- The pure electric car is the simplest design available. Just look at any remote control toy car, it’s a battery and a motor. Pure and simple. It will be child’s play when repairs (if any) are needed.
11- The cost of repairs will be very inexpensive in the event of a collision. Can you imagine what it would cost to repair a Hydrogen powered auto? (if it doesn’t explode on impact) Gasoline burns but Hydrogen explodes.
12- The cost to purchase and maintain a Hydrogen powered car will be so high that people will not buy them. Making something more complicated is not the answer.

As I said before…We the people will be driving all electric cars in the year 2060 if not much sooner.

The greatest handicap for electric motors to replace the IC engine is the limitations of the storage devices-batteries and capacitors. I think that this handicap can be overcome by 2060 or even earlier than that.

With individual home energy production such as solar and wind, however, we can produce our own hydrogen from water and use it as fuel. You are right about the explosive danger though. We’ll have to find a way to minimize it.