Re:Toyota's 'hydrogen engine' car roars through 24-hour enduro
by perl4ever on Thursday May 27, 2021 @01:01AM
(#27299578)
Hybrids are the future; convince me I'm wrong.
No matter how refined the manufacture of electric cars gets, a hybrid will always reduce the battery capacity needed to a fraction of what it would be otherwise. I believe the typical difference between a plug-in hybrid and full electric is around an order of magnitude.
It is just as irrational to have a battery with a 300 mile capacity as it is to have a gas engine with 300 hp. In either case, you are allowing for the greatest possible need which happens rarely if at all. A hybrid allows you to build both the engine and the battery for the average case which is on the order of 10% of the worst case. This is a huge inherent benefit.
I can't see how burning hydrogen in an engine will compete though, as an electric car is mechanically simpler than a car with an internal combustion engine. As economies of scale build, cars powered by electric motors will undercut internal combustion engines in price and reliability.
[1] https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/hydrogen_benefits.html