Brokerboy, I never said that there were not good auto engine/power system alternatives. I said that fuel cells (the technology that GM has been investing in) are not one of those viable alternatives. So I'll attempt to answer your question "why are fuel cells not viable". as long as you give a shot at answering the question I posed first (or at least thinking about it). Also, in general I agree with your other comments!
That's where we have a problem, I wasn't talking about initial quality. I'm talking about long term durability, I keep my cars a while. Initial quality is not too shabby either for GM, remember they have the #1, the #2, and the #3 plant delivering the highest initial quality, remember that commercial. But who gives a shit about initial quality, when spending $30,000 on a new vehicle, what's more important the first 6 months which are covered by warranty anyway or the fact that you can drive the thing 300,000 miles with little problem.
Well at first they will get it from gasoline converted to hydrogen under the hood. Still using about half of it as it normally would. Eventually they will get it from other liquids like water, using electricity from hopefully from renewable sources like solar, wind etc. and it will be available at your local gas station. The biggest problem with hydrogen is leakage which can be managed to be much less than 1% which is the current gas leakage we have.
I know what you mean but with time prices come down with new inventions. It could be the smartest move terrorist wise also. The Arabs hate us for good reasons. So letâs just come up with other things then gas to run on. I feel if we leave them alone they will leave us alone. The problem is oil companies make a killing and donât want to let it ever end. Goverment for once should do the right thing for everybody instead of for a few rich people. American car makers suck at making cars. They live off the idea of Americans supporting American companies.
Are you saying that you are assessing their quality control on the basis of one of their commercials? ummmm.. me? and 98% of new car buyers? again... it is old news that automobiles manufactured by the big 3 American automakers cannot compete in terms of quality, reliability, or price with foreign made cars. This is not speculation; it is the conclusion of US analysts.
***Well at first they will get it from gasoline converted to hydrogen under the hood. Still using about half of it as it normally would. *** Now that is a really poor idea, having a mini gasoline cracking plant under the hood. In addition to the hydrogen manufactured, there would be copious amounts of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gases) produced and even worse, lots of cracking byproducts that will have to be stored in a tank in the auto and/or eliminated from entering the atmosphere. So every time we fill up the tank with gas we unfill our reformer tank? And it won't use half the gasoline unless the Laws of Thermodynamics are repealed. Who came up with that, an Exxon marketing exec? Otto, diesel, and internal combustion engines produce mechanical power directly, and not via a fuel cellâs electric motor, which is more inefficient. They can be powered by alternative fuels such as biodiesel, but that is a topic of another discussion. Internal combustion engines have a long history of engineering work: given the right design, they can process fuels very efficiently. Converting one form of energy (gasoline) into another (hydrogen) and then using a fuel cell to convert that to yet another form (electricity) and then to yet another form (mechanical energy) wastes energy and will never happen on a large scale. ***Eventually they will get it from other liquids like water, using electricity from hopefully from renewable sources like solar, wind etc. and it will be available at your local gas station*** Basic molecules like water dislike very much being broke apart into component elements. They dislike it so much that nature charges a very large energy fee to do so. So instead of paying that fee, why not just use the electricity directly in electric/battery powered cards, instead of: producing electricity, from which hydrogen is very inefficiently produced, so that it can be shipping and stored, then pumped into a car, where it is converted back to electricity to run a motor. It seems very unlikely that this will ever be done on a large scale, when an electric car can be directly plugged into the grid instead, in the comfort of your own home. There are other sources of hydrogen you didn't mention like via coal gasification or garbage dump/methane production. These sources, like the others, are just a series of inefficient uses of the energy. They also produce CO2 as a byproduct. Autos can be run very efficiently, for example, on the natural gas that coal gasification produces directly. Right now Honda is experimenting with NG powered Civics that can be filled up from home --- again, eliminating that pesky hydrogen filling station and storage and transfer infrastructure. So it turns out that because hydrogen is not readily available on the earth in its elemental form, it is really only an energy STORAGE medium, and a rather inefficient one at that. In my opinion Fuel Cells will never be deployed on a large scale, and GM, unfortunately, is riding the wrong horse.
So apparently you are one of the idiots who are so easily convinced by these initial quality comparisons, but when presented by some facts from a commercial suddenly you don't believe. Again, initial quality meaning the car has 1.5 visits to the dealer under warranty rather than 1.8 will not affect your pocket book at all. Long term durability is the most important. Quality, reliability, price? My parents bought a new Hyundai Sonata for $23,000 with supposedly a 10 year warranty. Well the motor recently has been squeeking up a storm so they brought it to the Hyundai dealer under warranty. Well they called it wear and tear so they did not cover it. There's your 10 year warranty, shove it up your ass.
hahaha... another one bought into it. buy hondas... you won't regret it. my 9year old 150k miles. just had axles replaced for 140bucks. 40-44mpg on freeway (60mph). i go in for repair about twice, maybe 3 times a year. things are replaced before they break, and the parts are cheap. nothing major had happened. starts up every time. tranny has been makning noise since i got it... that was 65k ago