Brian Wang

He writes for the blog NextBigFuture.   It is on my sidebar, and has been one of my favorite blogs for several years now.  One thing about this blog, if you like something, better bookmark it fast.  He is a prodigious writer, and the post can get lost in the crowd of posts.

It so happens that this post about catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells got my attention.  As anyone who has read this blog is aware, I've written about the topic on numerous occasions.   This particular concept looks very promising, but I think that fuel cells have reached the point of economic viability already, as I have written.  Something needs to happen in order for it to go mainstream.  This concept can help a lot, but I think something else is needed too.

I noticed that it took 40 years from the time of the first automobile to be produced before it went mainstream.   That is a very long time.  Hopefully, it won't take 40 years for fuel cells to catch on.  What would it take to make it catch on?  Economics would help.  But energy starvation that the environmentalists are attempting is not the ticket.  Pushing prices down enough might do it, but what if you reach a limit?

I was thinking of, but not completely serious about, making a prototype of a fuel celled powered vehicle.  It would be a conversion from a conventional gas powered vehicle to a hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle.  I think that the risk is too high for me to take this on myself.  So, I won't be doing it.   It would cost a lot of money.  Maybe over 100,000 dollars.  Maybe not that much.  The fuel cell alone would cost about 40k.  Then you would need batteries and so forth.

I think in order for a conversion to work, the market has to be penetrated by manufacturers first.  This will get the fuel cell prices down to a manageable area.  At that point, it might make sense to do conversions.  But not yet.