It’s only Toyota who went deep into hydrogen. Even then they have 1 model, the Mirai, which is horseshit even without taking the infrastructure problem into account (which should absolutely be taken into account). They sold like dozens. It was a fairly transparent anti-EV deflection. None of the other OEMs made serious foray into the tech, though some did pay it lip service (for the same reasons).
Also importantly, hydrogen doesn’t suit Japan any better than anywhere else. They have zero production capability and the import route is an oil exec’s fever dream
Oh no, Honda has been talking up Hydrogen just as long as Toyota. Toyota has the Mirai, Honda has the Clarity.
Both companies seem to be stuck going for it for whatever reason though. Hydrogen vehicles are literally more complicated EVs, still use a highly combustible fuel, need even more safety systems than gasoline to prevent fires and explosion at the fueling stations, and the large tanks naturally leak because hydrogen is such a damned small atom that it literally sublimates through the skin of the tank. Hydrogen fuel cells are used to generate electricity for standard electric motors. There is literally no good reason for it with battery technology advancing as it has the last decade.
Meanwhile a BEV can be slowly charged from any standard outlet, and very quickly at dedicated chargers. As quick as an 80% charge in 10 minutes from the cutting edge Chinese batteries and chargers. And that doesn’t even get into people being able to charge overnight at home and rarely needing to visit a dedicated charger at all.
Hydrogen makes no sense in any situation with modern battery tech anymore. But for some reason both Toyota and Honda keep trying to beat that damned horse to oblivion.
it suited japan better because japan doesn’t remotely have the capacity to be making batteries. something china has a huge grapple on. It’s governement when to push its basic hydrogen strategy and it keeps pushing for it if you read japanese headlines.
Toyota, Nissan and Honda literally are in consortium for hydrogen mobility
The entire drive train is electric, though. Nobody really does hydrogen combustion (I think it’s the nitrogen in the atmospheric air that reacts with the hydrogen to make poisonous gas.)
Taking the drivetrain seriously would mean improvements to all cars with either kind of energy store.
It’s only Toyota who went deep into hydrogen. Even then they have 1 model, the Mirai, which is horseshit even without taking the infrastructure problem into account (which should absolutely be taken into account). They sold like dozens. It was a fairly transparent anti-EV deflection. None of the other OEMs made serious foray into the tech, though some did pay it lip service (for the same reasons).
Also importantly, hydrogen doesn’t suit Japan any better than anywhere else. They have zero production capability and the import route is an oil exec’s fever dream
Oh no, Honda has been talking up Hydrogen just as long as Toyota. Toyota has the Mirai, Honda has the Clarity.
Both companies seem to be stuck going for it for whatever reason though. Hydrogen vehicles are literally more complicated EVs, still use a highly combustible fuel, need even more safety systems than gasoline to prevent fires and explosion at the fueling stations, and the large tanks naturally leak because hydrogen is such a damned small atom that it literally sublimates through the skin of the tank. Hydrogen fuel cells are used to generate electricity for standard electric motors. There is literally no good reason for it with battery technology advancing as it has the last decade.
Meanwhile a BEV can be slowly charged from any standard outlet, and very quickly at dedicated chargers. As quick as an 80% charge in 10 minutes from the cutting edge Chinese batteries and chargers. And that doesn’t even get into people being able to charge overnight at home and rarely needing to visit a dedicated charger at all.
Hydrogen makes no sense in any situation with modern battery tech anymore. But for some reason both Toyota and Honda keep trying to beat that damned horse to oblivion.
Honda had the Clarity.
it suited japan better because japan doesn’t remotely have the capacity to be making batteries. something china has a huge grapple on. It’s governement when to push its basic hydrogen strategy and it keeps pushing for it if you read japanese headlines.
Toyota, Nissan and Honda literally are in consortium for hydrogen mobility
The entire drive train is electric, though. Nobody really does hydrogen combustion (I think it’s the nitrogen in the atmospheric air that reacts with the hydrogen to make poisonous gas.)
Taking the drivetrain seriously would mean improvements to all cars with either kind of energy store.