Thread: London buses go hydrogen-powered

Originally Posted by AK83

Would it be any different to spontaneous combustion that some(ie. Tesla) EVs have to contend with.

we had a firefighting course on EV's last week. summary: let it burn.

Originally Posted by Eevo

we had a firefighting course on EV's last week. summary: let it burn.

In the not too distant future .. what'd be the summary re burning hydrogen powered vehicles?
(my guess would be something akin to a Pythoneque ... 'run away, run away')
But, be sure to reply back when the summary is in.

Originally Posted by AK83

In the not too distant future .. what'd be the summary re burning hydrogen powered vehicles?
(my guess would be something akin to a Pythoneque ... 'run away, run away')
But, be sure to reply back when the summary is in.

hard part would be recognising a hydrogen powered car

treat it like other flam liq/gas. cool it, isolate it. if it goes bang, change underwear

From a total emissions pov (including power generation in EV’s )hydrogen must be better?
Anybody know?

Originally Posted by Phil B

From a total emissions pov (including power generation in EV’s )hydrogen must be better?
Anybody know?

depends on the purity required and how far you want to nest the carbon cycle.

low purity low quantity low pressure hydrogen is easy. solar panel step up inverter a couple of buckets of sea water and you're away. but how far do go, does the cost of making the panel, and the buckets come in here or the power for the pumps to compress the Hydrogen to a workable pressure and volume count?

stepping up the volume and pressure is scaleable but its a log scale (watch your air compressor gauge needle you'll soon work out why) purity depends on how you want to do it.

my opening guess is...

the total carbon foot print intiallly will be against the hydrogen BUT as more systems come on line and we start making stuff with stuff that was powered by hydrogen powered generation... it will come down rapidly espescially as the end result is (in the perfect world) pure water...

I can easily foresee the end result where the emission of your hydrogen powered car are captured in a tank and of a night/day you plug into a "charging station" where your pure water is whisked away and high pressure liquid Hydrogen is pumped into your supply tank.

once thats happening it wont be long before the rednecks who like camping will begin to frankenstein recouperation units that drain the water out of the emissions tank and then slowly split it out and re-pressurise it back into the supply tank.

and then car makers will begin to include that functionality into the vehicles in a refined form that will probably take advantage of regen braking.

Originally Posted by 101RRS

So is Canberra - announced this week with a cardboard cut out of the new bowser.

Australia's first public hydrogen refueling station confirmed - ACAPMAg - The voice of downstream petroleum

Not only is Canberra going to have cardboard cutout hydrogen fuel bowsers but we are going to electric fire engines.

ACT fire service charges toward an electric future | The Canberra Times

Only take 2 hours to recharge - hope we don't have a fire at the 1 hour mark.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Perth Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Trial | Eltis

I note they carefully say "double decker"

I spoke to the MD of the then BOC about this.
He told me that the trial was the biggest challenge he had ever faced as MD of BOC and that the provision of Hydrogen pure enough for the limited fleet was the greatest challenge.
Apparently most hydrogen is 97% hydrogen and appropriate for industrial purposes, however the buses required 100% pure hydrogen.
He said that the provision of 100% hydrogen on a large scale was very difficult and expensive.(impossible?)
I don't know whether subsequent developments have changed this scenario.

Regards Philip A

Where do they get the hydrogen from?
If it is electrolysis, where do they get the electrical energy from?

Originally Posted by Eevo

what happens if the bus crashes, and the tank ruptures, and there are sparks?

ka-boom!

YouTube