Eternally 10 years ahead?

       

Further reading

• Electric cars and niche markets (or when Toys for Boys create sustainability) (4663)
• A full tank for 2 euro? (2676)
• Hydrogen fuel stations (239)

The elusive promise of hydrogen fuel cells seems to be always '10 years ahead', but via Independent.ie, we learn what to look forward to if '10 years ahead' materialises:

"Our target is to produce a hydrogen fuel-cell car for $50,000 by 2015," says Peter Froeschle, a senior manager at DaimlerChrysler, which has already spent more than €1bn (£675m) developing its fleet of prototypes, " though we don't expect the operation to be profitable until 2020."

Today's price of GBP 60,000 for the 13 hydrogen fuel-cell Toyota Prius mentioned in the same article is not far off the price of the all electric Teslas Roadster, with a well-to-wheel efficiency several times higher than fuel-cell vehicles. Moreover, the Roadster can have a full tank of electricity for a couple of euros.

Both fuel-cell vehicles and electric vehicles need to go through a similar cost learning curve to achieve a $50,000 target by 2015, but electric vehicles have a few things going for them:

• Infrastructure for electricity distribution is already available. Widespread use of electric vehicles could be an enabling technology for the smart grid of the future.
• Low-carbon fuel, as the electricity system is increasingly decarbonised.
• Low fuel cost.
• High well-to-wheel efficiency.