Good afternoonall,Definitely interestingreading posted here this...

Good afternoonall,
Definitely interestingreading posted here this arvo, Ihave always argued that we wont see traditional plug inbattery-electric systems in the heavy vehicle sector due to theirenormous size and weight and load carrying requirements.

This iswhere the Hydrogen Electric cells have a chance to shine...

Themost significant load you see on a conventional ICE powertrain orsimple electric motor (an air compressor or an electric drill forexample) is on startup, the 'breakaway' torque. Inan electric system this is where peak amperage is drawn as it is thepoint of peak torque and the most load on a battery unit. Oncesomething starts moving it takes exponentially less energy to keep itmoving.

Thisis why I believe that these conventional battery-electric setups willnever take off with commercial plant, take a city bus for instancethink about coming to a complete stop every 1km for each bus stop onroute or a tipper truck constantly starting from a load point,driving up the road, stopping, dumping, and returning for refill atthe quarry etc. Thesize of the batteries themselves would be huge and significant weightas well a point to consider as obviously all the weight from one ormultiple batteries eats into the load rating of the chassis, andtherefore reduces the amount of load the vehicle can then carry.

Inmy now 12 years in the trade I have only ever replaced one hybridbattery unit, and it was HEAVY. It was in a 2nd generation Priusabout 10 years ago. Took 4 of us to lift it in and manoeuvre itaround to the right spot. That's in a 1300-1400kg car, I could onlyimagine what a battery unit would be like in a largebattery cell only application.

Thebeauty of the fuel cell is that to increase output, all that needs tohappen is the feed rate of the hydrogen fuel needs to increase (verysimplified). Output could be increased under heavy load such astaking off and reduced once moving. Considering the sophistication ofcomputers used in modern fuel injection systems now the electroniccontrols available are more than capable of driving fuel cells (allin my opinion).

Inthe first link in @deco19s postabove, that article states
"Hydrogen,even in liquid form, is less energy-dense than bunker fuel, meaningthat hydrogen fuel cells will take up more volume on cargo ships,which engenders an efficiency and opportunity cost of lost cargo.However, this displacement should be minor: 99 percent of U.S.-Chinavoyages in 2015 could have been powered by hydrogen with minorchanges to fuel capacity, such as replacing 5 percent of cargo spacewith hydrogen fuel."
Loss of 5%cargo carrying capacity seems insignificant.

Myown experimentation making a Hydrogen electrolyser many years agoworked well, however I found that the electrodes I was using simplydegraded too quickly to be of any significant use, and that wasusing freshwater. Someone with a commercial capacity and actualengineers and scientists at their disposal as opposed to two 19 yearold ye-has in a backyard with a yahoo idea would obviously have abetter chance at making it work...Imaginea ship with a small scale electrolyser on board as well that couldwork off saline water...

Food for thought.
Regards,
OP.