Andi Simons comments

Posted in: Toyota unveils revamped hydrogen sedan to take on Tesla See in context

Too much reading, too late, but here are my replies to some of the above posts:

The reason hydrogen produces only water vapor emissions is because the reaction is between H2 (hydrogen) and O2 (oxygen), which creates H2O. Unlike carbon-based fuels, there are no other chemical elements involved, so no way to create CO2 (carbon dioxide) - no carbon.

Next, the explosion thing... If the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen didn't produce energy, it couldn't be used to power a car. The Hindenburg always seems to come up in these threads, but that was a much larger quantity of hydrogen being used for a much different purpose, with a much different storage device. In modern 10kg fuel tanks, designed and tested for liquid hydrogen, even if something did go wrong it would certainly not rival the Hindenburg. Besides, has it occurred to anyone that gasoline and diesel are also explosive? Given that knowledge, why does the Pinto not come up every time someone talks about a new gasoline powered car? Even Tesla had problems with batteries catching fire, but that doesn't seem to have turned everyone off of vehicles with batteries.

Finally, as mentioned above, it does take energy to separate the hydrogen to use for fuel, and yes, that will probably come from a power plant (whose generation method will vary according to region). Unfortunately, the energy to charge the battery of an EV probably also comes from that power plant. Even if someone manages to build a home that is completely off the power grid and still produces enough energy to charge the car, is it really feasible that they would never need to charge it anywhere else? Those charging stations out in the world are still connected to the local power supply.

I'm not trying to say that everything else is bad and that HFC is the only way to go, but I want a Mirai. I have for years. They weren't made available where I live, or I would have one - even if they're ugly. My research said they are safe, practical, and set to last into the future. Hopefully this US release will finally give me a chance to own one, and hopefully other drivers out there will respect my choice and will ask questions about my car before trying to tell me why it was a stupid choice. A little tolerance goes a long way, even when we're talking about our cars.

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