I saw my first working fuel cell last year at trade show. It was small (about the size of a briefcase), but it worked! Very impressive. It generated 7-8 amps @ 14VDC, twenty-four hours per day! It consumed approx. one gallon of meth-alcohol/week (and generated power, heat, and a cup of water with ZERO emissions), but the biggest problem seemed to be the necessity of changing out the membrane once per year (expensive!).

I have faith...the technology is still very young.

 

That would be a great, laptop battery substitute . . . if it ever shows up at CompUSA or any of the computer outlets. Laptop power is one area that is relatively immune to cost considerations yet, there are no fuel cells on the shelves.

Bob Wilson

 

That's the point. You CANNOT plug it in at home UNLESS you have the SPECIAL CHARGING STATION that GM provided lessees. There is / was a special inductive charging device that looks like a ping pong paddle with an extension cord that provided the connection from the charging station to the car. If you went on a trip that was a little further than half the charge life of the vehicle and couldn't make it back home before your charge ran out, you're screwed. Now, it very well could be that some of the later vehicles had a different arrangement, but every EV-1 I ever drove had the inductive charging paddle set-up. To make the EV-1 viable as more than just a short range commuter car would require SOMEONE to set up inductive charging stations where drivers could conveniently recharge. That is not mainstream business for any automaker. California originally committed to the concept on some level and never followed through.




And what does that 80% of the population do the first time they need to make an out of state trip? Remember, there are no charging stations between hither and yon.

Peace,

Martin

 

As a company, GM has chosen not to whine about California's behavior on this issue. GM does, after all, still have to work with CARB on a number of fronts. Bottom line, you pick the hill you're willing to die on, and for GM, this one ain't it. I, on the other hand, in my role as NOT BEING THE SPOKESPERSON FOR GM..... am free to whine when appropriate

GM is moving forward with Hydrogen development with a clear understanding that one of the enablers to eventually reaching production is practical and affordable onboard hydrogen storage. Another enabler is a supporting infrastructure.

Peace,

Martin

 

So get the special charging station. Why is that an overwhelming obstacle?

Use their other vehicle. Since the vast majority of households have 2 cars, one of those cars could easily be an EV1.

Are these issues really that complex?

 

Of course they did not whine. They were campaigning with CARB to kill this program from inception.

The conversion of petroleum to H2 is far more polluting expensive and inefficient when compared to the EV1 philosophy. And the recharging infrastructure is considerably less challenging than H2 infrastructure.

For goodness sakes the charging infrastructure for the EV1 consisted of a special box that plugged into your home outlet. This is about as simple as it gets, but I get the feeling that some find this simple concept overly complex

 

Incidentally H2 cars will use alot more fossil fuels compared to the EV1 so they have much more support from Big Oil and uncle George.

 

That all depends on what is used to produce the hydrogen. It could be a renewable or fossil fuel source. The same applies to the EVs - the power plants charging it could also be wind or coal.

 

I think the Volt is the best of both worlds, it carries its own generator if needed. Per the Volt site, it seems it can be charged using a common household outlet. If this is the case, then businesses, (Restaurants, Places of Interest) could probably add additional "charging outlets" for a fee of course if needed to recharge. In the SW Solar is so abundant, maybe solar stations could be set up or Wind Power ones like in Palm Springs to generate the power for some of the stations. I think there are many options available.

 

That logic should stand on its own, so I'll just let it be. You win.

Peace,

Martin

Speaking of LOGIC - Delta Flyer.....Love your new tag line. Wish I had thought of it first.