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[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

so . . . it's an internal combustion/battery electric hybrid? This was so stunning and brave . . . when Toyota did it like 20 years ago

nm i was wrong, see below

[–]Chop_Chop[S] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (6 children)

so . . . it's an internal combustion/battery electric hybrid?

Maybe reread the article

This was so stunning and brave . . . when Toyota did it like 20 years ago

How many other incorrect assumptions have you made, do you ever wonder? Apparently you get off on assuming you know things you really don't. It's amusing to watch, at least for a few minutes.

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

The hydrogen-fueled range extender, does it by any chance burn hydrogen in a combustion chamber inside an engine? The bit on the left end of this picture I hope you will agree does bear an uncanny resemblance to an internal combustion engine, no?

The rest of the power, it comes from a battery. So . . . it's an internal combustion/battery electric hybrid as I said.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

The hydrogen-fueled range extender, does it by any chance burn hydrogen in a combustion chamber inside an engine? The bit on the left end of this picture JPG I hope you will agree does bear an uncanny resemblance to an internal combustion engine, no?

This particular model uses a 'hydrogen fuel cell' which means they are using the H+ hydrogen ions essentially like a battery rather than using the H2 form as combustion fuel, despite any resemblance it might bear to an ICE. Internal combustion hydrogen engines exist as well, and conventional ICE's can be modified for hydrogen fuel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_RX-8_Hydrogen_RE), and also have no CO2 emissions, although they do have NOx emissions due to the heat of combustion fusing (harmless) N2 with (harmless) O to form NOx, which is a greenhouse gas.

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Ooooooh okay they recycled standard terminology from gasoline "range extenders" and that's the source of confusion. Now we're on the same page. That's kinda neat then.

Too bad hydrogen is still not a green power storage medium LOL

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Too bad hydrogen is still not a green power storage medium LOL

Theres more to it than that. Hydrogen in theory can be a clean storage medium - its just harvesting H2 molecules from water by applying a current, but there are some complications that make this distinction not very meaningful

In theory it is free without any cost if we use the excess solar and wind produced at peak times to supply the current, as this is energy that would otherwise be wasted.

Now in reality the solar panels and wind are what are NOT in fact green. Those solar panels need special materials to be mined that are not green, and do not last forever, nor are they recyclable.

It isn't really the H2 itself thats the issue, its that extracting it from anything uses energy, and we dont have any clean base source for this. Hydrogen will NOT solve our problems, but it can make dirty technology slightly more efficient, because storing energy that already was dirty without any additional dirtiness is really all it can offer at the moment. But IF (thats a big if) you had magic solar panels made out of some really green material, or cold fusion reactors, we could use that energy to make hydrogen to fuel our cars, so those dont need nuclear reactors or solar powering. But yes, it is of limited benefit, and not something that will 'solve' green energy by any means

[–]Chop_Chop[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

its that extracting it from anything uses energy, and we dont have any clean base source for this

China has started to develop sources, part of a multi-year plan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOEQsq6iVIE

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Cool video. I agree using solar energy is currently the best source of energy for electrolysis, but while hydrogen itself is clean, the production of solar panels is not as perfectly sustainable and harmless as people would like to think, although I agree its preferable to carbon emitting fuels or even the lithium needed for batteries. I think this is more of a 'best we can do with what we have now' plan than a 'problem solved, no more energy environmental issues' thing