Comment on Swiss hydrogen-powered train sets 1741-mile record for nonstop travel
frezik@midwest.social 1 month agoWe did pursue it. Batteries won for common use cases. There may yet be niches where it’s useful, but they’ll be the exception.
Comment on Swiss hydrogen-powered train sets 1741-mile record for nonstop travel
frezik@midwest.social 1 month agoWe did pursue it. Batteries won for common use cases. There may yet be niches where it’s useful, but they’ll be the exception.
SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 month ago
We’re still pursuing it. Batteries do not work for basically anything other than average passenger vehicles in the city or near cities. They do not work in construction, they do not work for heavy equipment, long haulers or even large sea vessels…they do not work for shit in aircraft that carry anything other than itself or tiny payloads…and they really are pointless for any sort of space propulsion. A mixed energy planet is what is needed, not this “batteries are the end all be all” thought so many of you have.
frezik@midwest.social 1 month ago
Most of the items you mention are being overtaken by better batteries. Long haul trucking batteries will likely be at cost parity with diesel trucks this year. Big cargo ships should probably go to SMRs. Airplanes no longer look as out of reach as they once appeared.
Space flight is such a specialized use case. Of course hydrogen will be the predominant fuel there. More because there’s limited options than anything else.
SoGrumpy@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
We have 2 electric Volvo FHs with everything else speced exactly like my diesel powered Volvo FH 500 turbo compound (gearbox, final drive, tyres, cab/cab equipment). With my 1265 litre tanks, I go about 4000 kilometres - load dependant - against their max 300 kilometre range - also load dependant. It takes me 15 minutes at a fast pump to fill the tanks. It takes the EVs 30 minutes to get to 80% on a fast-charger. They cost more than double my ICE to purchase. The price has a long way to fall, ignoring the range completely. Battery powered trucks are only good for the ‘last mile’ deliveries, everything else needs to be hydrogen powered.
Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 month ago
They don’t work in construction?
Don’t work for long haul?
There are applications for hydrogen vehicles, but commuter trains aren’t one of them, especially since weight isn’t really much of an issue, so we can just keep adding batteries to get whatever range we need.
SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Weight is always an issue, who told you it isn’t? And sounds like you know something these engineers don’t.
Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Some locomotives alone weigh hundreds of tonnes, while weight is an issue, it’s less of an issue than most applications.