Toyota mirai hydrogen fuel cell car is it the future?

Ooh - that's another subject/pet hate. The number of people driving round in Chelsea tractors that can't fit a suitcase in the boot. I really don't see the attraction. They are claustrophobic, like driving round in a giant coffin

 

The Hindenburg burbing. . The hydrogen burnt upwards, the dripping burning aluminium, fabric and paint were raining down.

One problem with hydrogen is that it doesnt liquefy so it needs to be compressed to scary pressures or absorbed exothermically in something like nickel in the tank.

Strangely taking the hydrogen and reverse cracking it with CO2 and ending up with methane or propane is a lot easier to handle. And you dont need a new IC engine for LPG..

All the time its a done thing to buy an SUV or a **** pickup truck yeehah farmboi! I dont feel at all ashamed of 20-23 mpg in my bus.

 

Legislation and swings in taxing prompt what power source we end up with ....It was almost an overnight change from steam to diesel powered commercials ,as they taxed on unladen weight and the poor old steamers didn't stand a chance .

They did have a short come back during the second world war as petrol was rationed and in short supply .

 

Didn't they have a problem with some fuel cells exploding or summit or nuffink

 

Hydrogen in volume seems to slip out of containment, it’s very small atom and combines with other atoms readily, but it’s hard to contain it on its own. It’s a big problemsith using hydrogen as fuel , what do you keep it in that it can’t slip out of. When it’s out it’s shockingly burny. How it’s made ...well that’s the real problem that isnt going away. Burns lovely and clean, I hear. Hard enough keeping petrol and lpg in the right places in my bay.

 

Imagine rush hour in a large city, cars churning out water, localised increased humidity, it'll be smogsville all over.

 

Looks a nicer designed vehicle than the first mirai.

That was a tad challenging in the looks department:




VW need to get their finger out and get that microbus thing launched. Forget all that pointless self-driving malarky and just give us that vehicle with a massive battery and a sensible price and they'll sell bucketloads.

 

just did search to see where my nearest hydrogen filling station is - swindon or london, so 60 mile round trip just to fuel up.. not ideal. the first gen car was like 60k+ to buy which is also a bit of an issue, can't see the new one being much cheaper.

 

Map of hydrogen fuel stations https://www.h2stations.org/ and a hydrogen powered car made in Wales https://www.riversimple.com/
If you squint it's got a vague Frogeye Sprite about it.

 

to keep hydrogen as a liquid it needs serious pressures , like 200 bar. this is a problem and forces it through its containment. Don't know how this dealt with in London buses, but I see so few of them about....in London.

In the case of automotive systems, it was internationally agreed upon a standard pressure for the storage of gaseous hydrogen in the car of 70MPa (700bar) . no wonder them zeppelins didn't catch on
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/compressed-hydrogen-storage

 

Even up here in South Yorkshire, we've got them...one in Rotherham near my local supermarket....I hope that it's the future, can't see how electricity can work, I'm sure last year we were told that we were unbelievably close to a total power cut due to lack of supply.

 

I'm currently developing a methane powered vehicle for the vegan market.

I've mastered the art of methane production, but haven't managed to propel the car with it...yet!

 

They need to concentrate on hydrogen power ..we all know it has it's complications ,and iam sure somehow they can get resolved ...to me electric is just a pass over stage ...useless on commercials we need to cover the whole field .
electric pollutes at it's source ....bit like the Coalite plants for smokless coal or coke ...just created a stink and smoke in one big place so that it burnt cleaner in built up housing estates ...pointless .

 

I read an article last year that said if we just put all our efforts into offshore wind we can generate more power than the world needs, yes for everything, like lots more, way more..

just googled it:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidr...r-the-world-say-former-skeptics/#33c6b5d7265f

 

Had a great drive back from Bath on Saturday. The wind was behind me all the way. So smooth. Reckon saved over 10% on fuel, and did over 60, if somebody could come up with a tunnel design for tensile material, with air pressure (doom bar) generators at one end and push us along then we can get on gretas good side and save a few sheets on fuel. Create a demand for some ‘air pressure generators’ though.

 

i reckon theres a market for a clever cruise control that allows you to get really tucked up behind (say) a big artic so you get this wind/drag reduction benefit. Compooter should be able to react fast enough if it was say plugged in to a feed from that vehicle and the one in front too.. if they could all talk to each other then i don't see why you couldn't have safe vehicle "trains" that all benefit from the aero of the car in front.

 

But what about the truck up front, don't they all suffer from dragging along these smaller vehicles behind. No free lunch.

 

nope

no negative impact on the lead car to have something else tucked up behind following closely. that's why F1 cars want to follow someone down the straight during qually - gets a big gain. same reason birds migrate in a V formation, free aero benefit to the following birds if you are in the right position.

 

The same for MAMIL... the first one causes an invisible bow pie shaped bow wave and the rest of the “peloton” follow