Don't get me wrong, I think Teslas are fantastic, just as CD's were around 2001. It was cutting edge tech and it sounded great. What could possibly make a CD obsolete? Wav files! Err, mp3's, sorry.
So what fuel source to power cars do I think will be the supposed end-all mp3? Hydrogen. Hydrogen fuell-cell vehicles are much cleaner than battery powered cars, especially when you factor in that they don't require an enormous battery installed in the car. There are environmental and other impacts that go into harvesting and producing such large batteries. A recent report released by Polestar, a high performance electric vehicle manufacturer, suggests that the environmental cost savings over the lifespan of an electric car is minimal when compared to standard internal combustion vehicles. I'm sure there must have been some very specific vehicles being compared, to be fair.
Hydrogen fuell-cell vehicles are still EV's, emitting zero emissions. They fill up with hydrogen just like you fill up with gasoline, so it is a very fast "recharge" even when compared to Teslas superchargers.
Currently the only drawback is price. As with any new technology, it's always expensive at first. That first boom box we got with a built in CD player was easily north of $100, now you can't walk down the street without someone trying to give you one for free (I live in a very weird place). With hydrogen prices currently over $5 a gallon and only available in select places(mainly California) it will take just as long as it took our current EV's to get traction in building yet another infrastructure. After all, Americans are slow to change...
There is another US company doing the same thing, and I believe they hold the patents, so Tesla will likely have to pay royalties and therefore be more expensive. The company is Plasma Kinetics.
Whoever does this is creating disruptive innovation and money will be made in large chunks.
Hi Johnny,
Love your stuff, however I disagree about hydrogen.
Hydrogen isn't as efficient as pure EV. It adds another conversion step. Hydrogen -> Electricity -> Motion. Vs Electricity -> Motion. Less steps less losses. Also Hydrogen has storage issues. Sneaky little protons are hard to contain, need large tanks and very high pressure. In addition they are very explosive, much more than gasoline vapor. My father worked with Ballard fuel cells in the 1990s for stationary back up power for grid and utility. About the same time CD players came out. 😉