Battery technology that we have today is leagues ahead of liquid hydrogen ICE vehicles. You would need a trailer full of liquid hydrogen to get decent range. But that would not matter much because you would only get a fraction of the way through that tank before having to replace the fuel pump.
Engineering Explained has a few videos on the liquid hydrogen Corolla. It is only being looked at for race cars because of how quickly liquid hydrogen boils off.
While I applaud Toyota for researching this avenue, I don’t expect much of it to be useful for the average commuter.
SupraMario@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Did you even watch your own videos? First off some YT claimed engineer isn’t a legit source of doubt, second the fuel pump was being used during a 24 hour race… that’s like claiming that rubber tires require 3 sets during a endurance race and we should scrape rubber and go back to wood.
Hydrogen ICE is a legit tech and will be the future, unless they develop a cheaper, longer lasting and quicker charge battery. ICE is here to stay for a while. Batteries cannot do what they do.
SeaJ@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Do you have to change your fuel pump that many times when driving for 24 hours? God I hope not. Even if that is fixed, you still have the issue of horrible range unless you want to tow a trailer of liquid hydrogen.
Batteries are continually dropping in price. They also generally last 200-300k miles before they are down to 80-85% capacity. The only exception with that one is the Nissan Leaf which they decided to air cool. The quicker charging will be fixed with solid state batteries in the next 2-3 years.
SupraMario@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yes because I forgot how gas ice motors were getting 100mpg and 1000 mile ranges with all the comfort and reliability they have today…the tech is in its infancy. Battery breakthroughs have not exactly been great we’re still using the same design that’s decades and decades old. Until you get a new battery, that’s got better range, quicker charging and doesn’t require super charging stations and is also able to be run in industrial equipment on a daily basis. ICE motors are not going anywhere.
SeaJ@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Range would be about 1/20th to 1/40th of that 1000 mile range you mentioned (about 50 miles with very conservative driving). The Tesla Roadster got significantly more than that and even the GM EV1 back in the 90s got more than that. That is one of the reasons they are just looking into it for racing where range is much less of a factor.
Battery breakthroughs have actually been pretty great. 10 years ago the only affordable EVs got less than 100 mile range. Now you can find affordable EVs with about 300 mile range that have even greater reliability. The Nio ES6 uses a semi-solid state battery and has a 600 mile range. Toyota will have a solid state battery out in 2026 with an even better range, lighter, and will charge up to 80% in less than 10 minutes.
You are correct that ICE is here to stay for a while but that is largely due to trucking and air travel.