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Originally Posted by Blackraven  Indeed.
And not only this but hydrogen-powered vehicles are still plagued with tons of problems atm (mainly those involving the transportation of hydrogen fuel which is extremely volatile). However, I think BMW is working round-the-clock to try and fix these errant problems.........though it will take a while. Granted, we should see ever increasing improvements over each generation esp. with their upcoming Hydrogen 7 concept using the new-gen BMW 7 series (codenamed F01/F02).  |
Do you have any idea what you're actually talking about?
1. Hydrogen fuel is not "extremely volatile"... at least not in the way you are thinking. Observe:
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vol⋅a⋅tile [vol-uh-tl, -til or, especially Brit., -tahyl] Show IPA
–adjective
1. evaporating rapidly; passing off readily in the form of vapor: Acetone is a volatile solvent.
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Yes, Hydrogen fuel will tend to turn to a gaseous form in open air. Now, if you intended to say "explosive" or "flammable," then you're wrong. Indeed, it is flammable, but actually LESS so than gasoline. The Hindenburg incident? It only occurred because some dipshit didn't get the right tar to hold the canvas of the blimp together. My point is, transporting hydrogen fuel is NOT an issue.
2. I highly doubt BMW is "working round-the-clock" to fix issues that don't really exist. Even if there were any real problems with working with hydrogen, I'd imagine their number one priorities right now more involves not going bankrupt in this world economy, instead of working on some projects that may take a few years to yield a single penny's worth of revenue.
3. Of course, if auto companies are smart, it WON'T take more than a couple years (i.e. when the economy recovers) to get out the hydrogen cars. As deathrazor alluded, Honda's already rolling out the Clarity to some customers out in California. They don't have time for improvements with each generation... they need to leap ahead in order to even catch up to Honda, let alone overtake them.
4. Furthermore, even though gas prices are pretty low right now, it's only because of the economy, and the auto companies have to know it. Remember this past summer when they were at record highs? We're running out of oil here. If companies like Ford don't hurry up on the hydrogen cars, they're going to find themselves in even more trouble than they are now. Let's just hope they can pull themselves out of this rut before the oil runs out.