If Not Electric, Then What?

A news report today noted that Chevrolet is slashing the prices of their Chevy Volt electric vehicle due to a lack of demand.  It's still around $29,000 in California, but hey! Chevy Volt Prices Slashed

Now I've seen a few Nissan Leaf's around, (in fact, a friend of mine owns one) and Toyota Prius' in various incarnations are all over the place.  But I'm going to harp on an idea that I espoused before: hybrids and electric vehicles are not the answer!

Start with the fact that the manufacturing of the batteries is an environmental catastrophe on its own, and the fact that the various materials are shipped from all over the world to the assembly location, and you have a car that probably causes more pollution in the manufacturing of it than a Honda Civic causes from its fabrication and 150k miles of driving!  ZLEV vehicles do a pretty good job of cleansing the bad stuff from an internal combustion engine.  And yet, the old motors aren't the answer either.

It's time.  It is time that we go to the most plentiful element in the universe.  No ... not celebrity news stories.  I'm talking about hydrogen.  "But we'll blow up!  It's unstable!"  Like gasoline is stable?  Like methane is stable?  Anything that burns is relatively unstable.  But this isn't the era of the Hindenburg.  Technology has progressed to the point where hydrogen fuel cells are a reasonable way of fueling cars.

There was a Top Gear episode where James May pointed out a great fact.  He said that people are more inclined to accept a technology that doesn't make them change their habits too drastically.  Electric vehicles mean you have to plug your car in on a regular basis, and if you run out of power, you're stuck.  Granted, fast charging stations are going to pop up soon, but nowhere near the extent of gas stations.  Additionally, where does the electricity come from?  Does it magically appear?  Poof!  No, some kind of power plant has to create it, whether it is coal fired, hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, nuclear or whatever.  The power comes from somewhere, and if it is coal or nuclear, you've got that pollution thing going on again.

Hydrogen pumps would work just like gas pumps, and could, in fact, be installed where gas stations currently stand.  Hook up the pump to the car, fill up, and you're on your way, with your car producing no pollutants at all.  Nice.

Do I sound anti-environment?  If you've read any of this, you know I'm not.  In fact, I believe in being reasonable, and making some sacrifices in behalf of the environment.  (Not to say I'm up to eating waxworms yet.)  But let's move towards something sustainable; something that people will use; something that will give cars the power they need, the feel that people want, and the protection the environment must have.  Let's get these fuel cells going, shall we?