ChatGPT generated panoramic black and white charcoal sketch illustrating the analogy using hydrogen for energy is like buying a fancy blender when a knife gets the job done quicker and cheaper.
Hydrogen is often promoted as a clean and efficient energy carrier, but its real-world efficiency is frequently overstated. Proponents of hydrogen fuel cells highlight their conversion efficiencies of 50–60%, comparing them favorably to internal combustion engines (ICEs). However, this selective framing ignores the full energy pathway, from hydrogen production to … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic cartoon image of an inefficient hydrogen for energy cityscape, with hydrogen-powered cars, heaters, pipelines, and visible waste and emissions throughout the scene.
Hydrogen for energy has been the subject of extravagant claims for decades, and they keep being repeated. When you run into a hydrogen for energy enthusiast and they start saying things that make it seem as if hydrogen for energy is a slam dunk, have a look through this. Some … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic digital illustration of a massive hydrogen torch with a vibrant blue flame, fueled by stacks of burning dollar bills
This is the year that the hydrogen bubble pops, especially for transportation, but increasingly for all hydrogen for energy plays. One of the firms on my hydrogen death watch is Plug Power, which has managed to lose $3.12 billion of other people’s money since 2010, about $200 million a year … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic image of buses labeled "H2" and "Hydrogen" sinking in a bog with dollar signs pushing them under and bubbles labeled "CO2e" escaping
For several months I’ve been digging through what’s going on with a Canadian transit ‘think’ tank, CUTRIC, and why it’s pushing hydrogen buses into city plans across the country. It keeps claiming hydrogen buses have been a success and are cheap, but cities keep canceling their plans for them as … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic image of a group of people huddled shivering in a snow covered bus stop beside an out of service bus labeled "H2"
A sign of a great city is that the rich take public transit. Well, not really. They take light rail and subways. But they don’t take buses. In many cities, light rail systems attract a more affluent ridership compared to buses, highlighting a persistent disparity in public transit usage. Studies … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic image of the Grim Reaper looming over an electric VTOL rotorcraft like the Joby and a bus labeled "H2"
For several years there have been a couple of parallel slow motion failures in the making, the use of hydrogen in transportation and the Jetsons’ fantasy of air taxis zipping over cities. Neither were based in economic, regulatory, or technical reality, preferring instead to have vast sums of governmental and … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic image of an angry man shaking their fist out of the window of an abandoned, rusting hydrogen bus.
Over the past three weeks, I’ve been assessing various aspects of the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium’s (CUTRIC) positions, research, and publications on transit bus decarbonization. I’ve published ten articles directly about CUTRIC’s material and reports, or closely related and with serious implications for their claims that both … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic image of a New Flyer Excelsior hydrogen bus sitting abandoned in a weed-filled parking lot, with an angry transit operations manager looking at it.
New Flyer is the leading provider of transit buses in North America. It’s also the leading provider of hydrogen buses in North America, which is a problem for it, although it feels like an opportunity. That’s where the bad strategy comes in. As always when I talk about strategy — … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic image of an electricity meter spinning madly, with a hydrogen refueling station behind it
Unsurprisingly, when it comes to hydrogen, the more real-world data collection and analysis that is done and published, the worse it looks. The latest black eye for the tiny molecule that so many love is in the efficiency of making hydrogen at refueling stations. The Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility … [continued]
ChatGPT generated image of a jigsaw puzzle with hydrogen bus pieces hammered into spots where electric bus pieces fit
In the past week, I’ve been digging into the underpinnings of a few Canadian cities’ current fixation on wasting serious amounts of taxpayer money on hydrogen buses. I had been ignoring it, more than not, as I’d assessed global hydrogen fleet trials and results along with exorbitant global hydrogen transportation … [continued]
