Quote:
Originally Posted by NoSurrender
1) Hydrogen is not easily accessible
3) Hydrogen fuel (as of today) can not be produced at a reasonable price.
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These two issues will also affect electric fuel cell vehicles. For EV's to become prevalent, at least one of two things will have to happen:
1. Producing hydrogen fuel at a lower cost and developing the fueling infrastructure. (for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles)
2. Improvements in battery technology that reduce cost while increasing capacity. (for electric vehicles utilizing batteries only)
From the few articles I've read about nano-technologies being used to create batteries with 5x the capacity of current lithium batteries, I'm guessing option 2 is the route we'll see taken in the future. With that kind of capacity upgrade, EV cars would have a respectable driving range while being charged off the grid. This off course leads to the need for the grid to generate clean electricity from alternative methods (solar, wind, hydro).
In the meantime, I suspect we'll see a growing number of hybrids, diesels, and possibly diesel hybrids.