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[–]Chop_Chop[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

the storage of H2 was difficult since the H molecule is so small that it can penetrate steel and cause it to become brittle.

The embrittlement problem is somewhat overstated. Consider that US H2 Pioneer Mike Strizki (in Hopewell, NJ) has stored hydrogen in old propane tanks since 2005, see his website here He gives tours, if you can get him on a good day and convince him that you will get him some exposure you might get it free. He sometimes answers his phone (listed on his website), or email him.

Before the North Sea natural gas fields came online in the 1960's, Britain and other countries used "Town Gas" which was ~50% hydrogen. The pipes could handle this without leaking the gas all the time.

Now Leeds, UK is planning to inject H2 into the city gas lines. Appliances will have to be converted (usually no more complicated or expensive than converting a natural gas appliance to run on propane). See this. The Northern Gas Network study covers embrittlement.

The carbon fibre tanks that store hydrogen in Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes cars aren't affected by embrittlement.

I had not considered the tremendous demand for power that EVs would put on the system

Another thing many have not considered is that if you need to charge your battery EV and you finally get to a charger and there's a line, you're going to be there for longer than 30-45 minutes. You might be there 3 hours. Who has 3 hours to waste, waiting for a charge? A hydrogen station can fill from zero to ~300 miles of range in ~5 minutes. Throughput is important. One hydrogen dispenser can theoretically fill 12 cars per hour.