Wasserstoff is definitely in our future irregardless of what the all electric diehards would like to force on the driving public.

As stated recently by Nobel Laureate Burton Richter:

1) "The entire world production of platinum isn't large enough for 10 million cars."
2) Hydrogen is too expensive to make.
3) Membranes inside the cells don't have the longevity required.

Even if they succeeded to make a platinum free fuel cell with the needed durability they still need to make a hydrogen tank with the needed durability. Pressure tanks that cost several thousand USD to replace wear down after a few hundred refills. Also a hydrogen station that can do 40 vehicles a day will always cost about 20 times more to build than a fast charger for EVs (about 50,000 USD) that also can do 40 vehicles per day. Consequently, hydrogen will be 3 or 6 times more expensive per miles driven than electricity for battery EVs and hydrogen will likely be considerably more expensive than gasoline or ethanol per miles driven. And hydrogen is not clean unless it is made from electrolysis with electricity from renewable energy in which case hydrogen will be 4 to 8 times more expensive than electricity for battery EV.

Battery EVs only have one serious competitor and that is the ICE vehicle. At 120 USD per barrel or about 3.5 USD per gallon of gasoline there is enough synthetic gasoline from coal and oil sands to run the world economy the next 100 years at least. However, it should not happen because the CO2 emissions from that gasoline production will lead to extreme global warming and probably kill off most life on the planet. Hopefully, the cost of batteries and wind power will come down soon enough to ruin even the synthetic oil industry that is rapidly replacing the old non-synthetic oil industry.

Very well said Anne.

Progressive electrification of most transportation vehicles will take place in the next two to three decades.

Until such times as on-board e-storage units have the high energy density and low cost required, many electrified vehicles will have to have some type of on-board e-power generating unit to get the required range.

A very light weight flex fuel ICE genset may be the lowest cost solution for many years. As the e-storage units get better and smaller, the on-board genset usefulness will ease. Eventually, compact fuel cells may fill the that role; whenever their cost come down about 100+ folds and hydrogen becomes available.

Much lower cost fuel cells coupled with improved super-caps could, one day, become one of the possibility. The world will certainly find ways to reduce cost and size and improved performances of fuel cells, batteries, super-caps etc. The winning technology may or may not be the current favoured one.

An interesting transition decade ahead.

Ann's right, use the fittest technology. There may even be a niche for hydrogen fuel cells(hfc's), but auto companies don't state all the problems or costs($100,000's/unit).

HFC's most easily further the status quo - too expensive for a new auto startup, present oil firms provide the hydrogen, government grants more billions of tax dollars for more decades(research grants, white pages). The corporate officers then control their grants, incomes, etc..

ai_vin:

Since you hated to break it to me I will reciprocate and hate to break it to you.

Clearly, you have either not read my post or perhaps English is not your mother tongue.

Nowhere in my post do I claim that a fuel cell vehicle does not use an electric motor.

Quoth Mannstein:

In some recent posts several members have stated we should tax this and legislate that to force electric golf carts and hybrids on the rest of us.

One of the nerves hit was definitely Mannstein's.