On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
Oh come on. Its all economics. (With tech changing the params) Fuel cells for cars are too expensive today. There is not enough methanol production/distrib infrastructure, which costs to create. [insert Metcalfe's law (aka fax or network effect) blurb here] And where do you get to strip-mine the coal for the methanol?
Even H. Ford was figuring on using hemp for methanol. The problem is that you need a nuke plant to do the final distillation. That's politics, not economics.
The economics will make battery + capacitor + constant-rate Otto engine (aka 'hybrid') keep petrol cheaper than alternative energy carriers and sufficiently clean for a while. You'll see 42 volt cars (soon) before you see fuel cells in cars.
Yup, the ability to run the Otto at fixed speed maximizes it's efficiency. When the price of fuel for the 25% max efficiency runs into the 90%+ efficiency of more expensive motors, we'll see things start changing. Just gotta kill off a few more arabs to extend the time when that happens is all. Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike