Is this something worth looking into maybe investing in? Seems to me I remember someone converting some engines over to hydrogen.

 

I am asking because I do not think electric cars are going to catch on real well by the look of it.

Toyota is the only OEM looking at hydrogen for passenger duty.

 

The rest are moving electric.  I don't see anything preventing the adoption of electric over the next 10 years for passenger duty vehicles.  

 

The money is flowing to ev by the manufacturers.

 

I could be wrong though.

Thanks Nick, I think electric puts too much reliance on one source that in turn will over tax that infrastructure plus the problems associated with slow charging in winter. You will have to constantly guard your vehicle to make sure someone else did not unplug and borrow your charging while you sleep. That's a problem recently reported on the news.

there will be solutions to this just like there was a solution to people syphoning gas tanks.  


We REALLY need to fix our grid, i don't care how we do it or what it takes it needs to be done.  We are already over taxing out grid without EV.  Not fixing our grid is not a solution.  the world we live in requires vastly more power than the world 20-30 years ago.  There is no way around that.

1 hour ago, Me78569 said:

vastly more power than the world 20-30 years ago

I need to do some research on this. I’m curious as to how much energy efficient appliances and tech advances like LED lighting have offset electricity consumption (with population growth factored in). I can tell you this though, my electric bill goes wayyy down in the winter because I use natural gas to heat my home. With the grid as vulnerable as it is you’d think it would be all the more reason to NOT pick a fight with fossil fuels, at least until you have the infrastructure in place to meet the countries needs without it. 

Just think of all the devices and computers we have now running.  How many homes have dishwashers now compared to 30 years ago?  things have gotten more energy efficient, but the number of things has climbed.    AC used to be a nice thing to have in the home, now it is a requirement.  electric tooth brushes and electric bath tubs and electric pet blankets.   The list of things is endless.  as the world moves into greater prosperity we have many times more electrical devices.  

 

This is not an argument for picking a fight with fossil fuels, we simply use more power at peak than the grid can handle in a lot of places.   Doesn't only matter where the power is coming from it matters about all the things in between too. 

 

We need wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, coal, natural gas all together to supply the needs of the country.   each region needs to be able to draw in times of need from other regions without rolling blackouts etc.     

Then there are some of us that live off a 4kw solar system and only live off 30A service for entire house. This is one reason I would never own a EV. Being my system would never be able to recharge a EV even the current draw would be too much and the system would never handle it. 

 

Most of my travel I'm upwards of 300 to 400 miles a trip just for food and supplies. 

22 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Then there are some of us that live off a 4kw solar system and only live off 30A service for entire house. This is one reason I would never own a EV. Being my system would never be able to recharge a EV even the current draw would be too much and the system would never handle it. 

 

Most of my travel I'm upwards of 300 to 400 miles a trip just for food and supplies. 

You could get an electric pickup and bolt a big diesel generator in the bed

Sorry for the joke everyone. Micheal Nelson has indicated I'm on a thin skinny sagging beam for all the bad jokes, I'm being watched.

 

I'm still wondering though, are there any bad trade offs to hydrogen? For example, possible explosions which require higher safety precautions etc.?

2 hours ago, JAG1 said:

Sorry for the joke everyone. Micheal Nelson has indicated I'm on a thin skinny sagging beam for all the bad jokes, I'm being watched.

 

I'm still wondering though, are there any bad trade offs to hydrogen? For example, possible explosions which require higher safety precautions etc.?

Without humor,  we are lost....👍

Hydrogen is really flammable, that’s what they think was most of the problem with the Hindenburg.  I work on forklifts and such, and they do use hydrogen fuel cells for electric lifts.  I don’t know the specifics, nor have I worked on or been trained on this technology.  I do know the hydrogen filling areas are kept way from most other things and are fenced off.  I know of a couple companies that stopped using them after fires and/or explosions.

I think it would be extremely difficult to make hydrogen foolproof for alot of the fools in this world today. Some of the stupid, ignorant, unbelievable things I see people do at times makes me wonder how they breathe and walk at the same time....

3 hours ago, Max Tune said:

I think it would be extremely difficult to make hydrogen foolproof for alot of the fools in this world today. Some of the stupid, ignorant, unbelievable things I see people do at times makes me wonder how they breathe and walk at the same time....

Yes I go down the freeway and it only takes 10 mins to see 3 or 4 of them each morning and it getting worse. I saw an suv this morning with the rear wheels like 35's only they were very wide and sticking out past the fenders like at least 5/6 inches. The fronts were stock so it made it look even more like giant toilet paper roll profiles sticking out,

What do ya know, I finally got a laugh out of @Max Tune

Hydrogen...yeah it's flammable !

 

DO NOT DO THIS...... here, hold my beer and watch this.

 

Find a Coke bottle, 16 Oz or 12 Oz

Measure out one tablespoon of Draino (ask your wife, it's under the kitchen sink)

Put the powdered Draino into the Coke bottle

Find the aluminum foil (ask your wife, it's in the drawer in the kitchen)

Take a piece of aluminum foil and with a scissors, cut up a bunch of little tiny strips no wider than 3/16's of an inch wide, 1/2 inch in length (you are making a little pile of aluminum foil...no more than a tablespoon full.

Pour the shredded aluminum into the bottle with the Draino

 

Go find a balloon or an unused Condom....( had to put this instruction in because Mike Nelson might do this and the Condom must be unused)

 

Measure out about 6 to 8 Oz's of cold tap water.

 

Carefully, add the water to the bottle...it will react IMMEDIATELY....it will get HOT FAST!

 

Put the balloon over the lips of the bottle...it will "gas off" and fill the balloon (or Condom)

 

CAUTION.... you now have Hydrogen Gas....do not do this while smoking a blunt....

 

Now...hand me my beer back.

Again... DON'T DO THIS...it is dangerous but, damn fun!

 

W-T

 

47 minutes ago, W-T said:

( had to put this instruction in because Mike Nelson might do this and the Condom must be unused)

 

Nope... No need for those things... 

 

47 minutes ago, W-T said:

CAUTION.... you now have Hydrogen Gas....do not do this while smoking a blunt....

 

Now I might be doing that... I'll make sure to smoke it outside. 

 

Heck look up the HHO plans you can produce from water hydrogen and Oxygen with a little electric current. Less toxic like the draino and tin foil idea...

 

 

 More voodoo! Like that hand held lava wand Mike posted up! 

 How much water would a vehicle have to carry on board to provide a reasonable milage range? Would one have to pull a trailer with a water tank on it to drive say 300 miles?

1 hour ago, Doubletrouble said:

How much water would a vehicle have to carry on board to provide a reasonable milage range? Would one have to pull a trailer with a water tank on it to drive say 300 miles?

 

Problem isn't the water... The problem is being able to deliver lots of amps of power to create enough HHO to make it viable fuel. Back in 2008 there was kits for diesel but they were needing at least 100 amp to make enough hydrogen to make it worth while. So what current load that on the alternator would be used by the hygrogen fuel to power its self and bit more diesel. That was the entire problem with hydrogen genrators trying to create enough to be consider a fuel source on the intake. As you seen the small bubble was a pretty violent explosion for just a small bubble. It would take much to blow the hood off your truck with a leak and spark like on the slip rings of the alternator. BOOM! 

 

You don't get something for nothing... Thinking you can create enough hydrogen it will never happen being the alternator load will always cause a loss.

 

Remember one thing man can neither create or destroy anything. Meaning that even though you converted water with electricity into the two gases hydrogen or oxygen. Then burn the hydrogen it will convert back into water again. Yes its bio-friendly but creating enough explosive hygrogen and not blowing up your truck doing it.

 

Just like propane injection that is another one used to gain MPG's being the propane fogged in the intake will promote complete burning of the diesel fuel. @MnTom back in the day was making high 20's MPG on his truck doing Propane injection. 

 

Me... I want to do high 20's without drugs (no propane or hydrogen). I've touched there but cant always keep it but I'm going to continue to work at getting closer to that goal as a constant. 

This is a good quick read about the subject.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a3428/4271579/

Yup. That is spot on. 

On 1/4/2023 at 9:27 AM, JAG1 said:

are there any bad trade offs to hydrogen?

At this point we still need to get the hydrogen from somewhere, which requires power to separate the hydrogen from water, etc. It's great for storing potential energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing versus shutting off the wind turbines so as to not overproduce electricity. Hydrogen has to be stored at high pressure and is apparently VERY difficult to keep where you want it; being the smallest atom it tends to leak. So if you park your hydrogen pickup for a month, the tank may be empty when you want to start it. Energy density isn't very good, so like batteries you either have dismal range or a big penalty in weight.

The engines still produce NOx, so there's an emissions system to deal with.

 

There was a good article about it in the TDR magazine a couple issues back, by Kevin Cameron.