[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Interesting stuff, but I think you may be missing my point. From what I have seen Electric cars just aren't efficient by todays standards. They don't have the HP or sustained power or ability to go the distance as examples. So the goal is to get a combustable fuel that will work in the combustion engine, hence hydrogen. So you use the free energy from the sun to generate the fuel required to work in the combustion engine, which will work by today's standards. Is that more clear? The photocell system is used to seperate the fuel for the combunstion engine, which is used to power the engine and move the vehicle. As for deminishing efficiency, who cares? The power is from the sun and from water. Its all about using the right fuel to do the right thing. Until they find a way to build electric cars that can do what the combustion engine can, a hybrid approach like this is probably the best solution, don't you think? If you can add a $1000 solar cell, a $1000 converter, a $1000 storage system, and a $1000 engine modification, and be able to run your car with your garden hose, who isn't going to be all over that and not really caring about the cost? Water is renewable, and the sun is going to be around for a few more billion years.

No, I understand what you're saying, and sure if you can find a hydrogen engine that is more efficient than an electrical motor that runs directly off of these great solar energy cells then go ahead and make your car. But I find it hard to beleive that an internal combustion engine can be more efficient than an electic motor. If that were the case then we wouldn't have hybrid cars. and if you're using a fuel cell, then it defeats the purpose, as it is another example of the first law of Thermodynamics.

As a storage means, hydrogen is great, but only if it can be produced by a renewable non poluting source, but as has been said, as an on demand fuel source it is not going to be feasible, at least not untill we can make an internal combustion engine that is more efficient than an electric motor.