Japan automakers play catch-up in EV race

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 202 points –
Japan automakers play catch-up in EV race | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
www3.nhk.or.jp
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It's more like BEV reality. They (car manufacturers, oil & gas, etc) have been trying to get hydrogen to work for ages now, but BEVs have made much more progress instead.

Hydrogen fuel-cells: Everyone (consumers, manufacturers, etc) has been waiting for this to come into mass-production and used in cars. Hasn't happened yet.

Hydrogen combustion engines: Good idea, but still not as feasible at sounds. I've heard of problems with efficiency of the engines, dangers in storing and transporting the fuel, leakage, etc. It still hasn't happened to scale.

Hydrogen production is still very energy and CO2 intensive. The small amount of hydrogen that can be produced using green methods or with carbon-capture, should be used towards planes and rockets.

BEVs won't be a cure all for every machine on earth, and not immediately either. But over time, it should become the most cost-appropriate solution if you factor in the cost of emitting CO2 and other GhGs.

It's the same story as with diesel or ethanol cars. There are always some short-term "easy" solutions that don't scale or aren't really that green. BEVs is just the next stage of that. You can obsess all you want with a transitional technology, but that doesn't stop the march of progress.