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submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Shell Is Immediately Closing All Of Its California Hydrogen Stations | The oil giant is one of the big players in hydrogen globally, but even it can't make its operations work here.::The oil giant is one of the big players in hydrogen globally, but even it can't make its operations work here. All seven of its California stations will close immediately.

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[-] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 42 points 9 months ago

Hydrogen will have an important role to play in the future of green energy simply because it's a portable high density fuel, that doesn't require a battery to work.

The trade-off is that hydrogen takes more energy to create, then you get back. That doesn't make a lot of sense when you're using fossil fuels, but it would in a future with significant amounts of excess green energy e.g. wind, solar, fusion, etc.

[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

“Doesn’t require a battery to work” is a fairly meaningless upside when it does require a fuel cell, a moisture exhaust, and a cannister of compressed, flammable gas.

[-] laurelraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 9 months ago

So much simpler than a brick holding the energy already in the form you need it in that can return it to the parts that need it at several times the efficiency, right?

I genuinely don't get the arguments that hydrogen is simpler or more universally compatible when it's very easy to see it isn't

[-] zurohki@aussie.zone 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but hydrogen fuel cell vehicles do have batteries. You can't put energy captured from regen braking back into the fuel cell, so either you have a battery or you lose a third of your range.

Fuel cell EVs can't be fitted with charging plugs for religious reasons.

[-] 4z01235@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Fuel cell EVs can't be fitted with charging plugs for religious reasons

I really need to hear that story.

[-] zurohki@aussie.zone 7 points 9 months ago

It's a joke about Toyota's attitude towards hydrogen and batteries. Fuel cell EVs almost make sense as plug in hybrids, with 40 miles of battery range for daily use and the hydrogen system for longer trips, but that would be blasphemy against the holy fuel cell!

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Toyota has developed Hydrogen ICE motors. So it doesn't need to only be used as fuel cells.

[-] SeaJ@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

Those things are absolute garbage in terms of efficiency. They are not viable.

[-] CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

You can mine hydrogen. They recently found some pretty large reserves of pure-ish hydrogen underground.

this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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