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B4 The Bell, Thursday May 6


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Oh how I love a good hydrogen debate. Thoughts range from , "Oh someone will discover a miracle way to make hydrogen at 1 cent per gallon" to " Hydrogen will never work as an everyday fuel due to simple physics." Place me in the latter camp. I view hydrogen becoming a commonplace fuel about as likely as discovering a way to travel between planets in a few hours and upon arrival do an instant terraforming to a human friendly environment.

 

RE:Hybrids - there's no free lunch. Firstly the inherent complexity and true cost (hybrids are somewhat subsidized by the mfgs) will never achieve a payback as opposed to a straight gasoline version of the same vehicle. Do the math. Compare Toyota's hybrid to their gasoline version of a similar car and I'm quite confident the fuel cost savings over their expected life will never offset the differences in the initial purchase price of the vehicles. This doesn't take into account the likely higher true costs of service and repairs, like eventual battery replacement in the hybrids. The same can be said for most diesel versus gasoline versions of an American pickup for the typical driver. Only in extreme examples that the typical driver will not encounter or experience can any savings be found. Also consider that if hybrids become more popular the manufacturers will be forced to reduce their subsidies due to profit concerns and the cost spread between the hybrid and gasoline vehicles will widen either through outright increases or reduced content in the hybrids.

Agree with you in both points. In addition to the problems in storing, transporting and refueling with H2, it takes energy to electrolyze water to form hydrogen. As for hybird, it is a few thousand dollars more expensive than comparable gasoline engine power cars. At current gasoline price, it will takes about 8 to 9 years before the saving in gasoline price to pay back the original extra cost for hybird. There is question on how long the battery will last.

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