The other day, I received an email from Subaru asking me to take a survey regarding satisfaction with my new car. Although most of the questions in the survey involved my reasons for buying my car and how satisfied I was with the new car, a good 10% of the questions involved my concerns about buying an electric car. I have been saying for a long while that America's answer to global warming will be the conversion to electric vehicles. But it won't happen until using an electric vehicle is as convenient as using a gas powered vehicle is for 99% of the public. So, seeing these questions in a survey got me to thinking.
For a long while, I have been saying that America will NOT reach its goal of shifting to electric vehicles by 2035. The infrastructure needed to charge these cars is not yet being built out, and there are no signs that this will happen soon. Additionally, most electric cars are not built for long road trips, nor can they be charged fully as quickly as a gas vehicle can be refueled. Although many homes can be fitted with a home charger, most people living in apartment buildings do not have access to home chargers and must depend on the more inconvenient public charging networks. Virtually none of these charging stations have human attendants, many are vandalized, and they are often non functional due to problems with software or hardware. There are way too many problems for a "one size fits all" solution being forced upon us by our state and federal governments.
I'm a person who'd gladly switch to electric vehicles if the conveniences of our current gas powered vehicles would exist for me. If it meant doubling the time needed to being my car up to a 350+ mile usable driving range, I could accept it if I could go into a nearby 24x7 store to kill time. But most charging stations I see are unattended, open to all weather (no protection from rain or snow), and more than 100 feet away from a quick mart.
As much as I believe that we will need to shift to electric vehicles, I don't believe that battery powered vehicles will be the solution for everyone. But if batteries are part of the problem, then what could be an alternative solution? Hydrogen. If we develop a surplus of renewable energy, we can use that energy to generate Hydrogen from water, and then use it in motor vehicles as fuel for generating electricity for the vehicles' propulsion. However, when hydrogen burns, it gives off a single byproduct: Dihydrogen Monoxide in gaseous form - Steam. Steam contains no hydrocarbons, and does not contribute to global warming.
The technology to use Hydrogen as a fuel already exists. It has been used in cars such as the Toyota Mirai. But there are virtually no hydrogen fueling stations in the USA. Yes, there are risks in storing hydrogen. Yet, we know how to manage those risks. If we are to shift to non greenhouse gas emitting vehicles, then we need to consider hydrogen as a fuel for the rest of us. It could be distributed in a manner equivalent to that of gasoline, and refueling would be as convenient as now done for gas powered cars. Conversion to a hydrogen fuel infrastructure could be done faster than upgrading the electric grid, and would be easier to accept for the driving public.
What do you think?
