<
https://thedriven.io/2024/09/16/hydrogen-car-is-dead-and-buried-just-three-years-after-morrison-hailed-it-a-game-changer/>
"Remember Scott Morrison? The former prime minister had a bit of a blind spot
when it came to new technologies, insisting that electric vehicles would “ruin
the weekend”, and that big batteries would be as useful as the Big Banana or
the Big Prawn.
But he did get excited about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, choosing to drive one
– a Toyota Mirai – at the launch of the then Coalition government’s future fuel
strategy, and declaring hydrogen to be a “game changer” for Australia because
of their longer range.
As predicted at the time, that proved to be a false hope. In Australia, more
than 63,000 EVs have been sold this year, and just 10 hydrogen fuel cell cars,
and none to private buyers. Across the world, more than 14 million EVs were
sold in 2023, and just 14,000 hydrogen fuel cell cars.
In the last two weeks two key reports have been released that have more or less
buried the idea. The Climate Change Authority’s detailed sector pathways review
for Australia’s net zero target made no mention of hydrogen cars for light
vehicles, or even small trucks.
In the federal government’s updated National Hydrogen Strategy that was
released late last week, hydrogen cars barely got a mention. It did identify
three industries – iron, alumina and ammonia – where hydrogen could best be
used to build new export industries.
Both reports also suggested that hydrogen may have a role to play in aviation,
shipping, electricity storage and heavy transport (although even the likes of
BHP have dismissed that, saying battery electric will likely win there), but
acknowledge that hydrogen can’t compete with battery electric cars."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
