Tesla CEO Elon Musk: Fuel cells are 'so bullshit'
green.autoblog.com
green.autoblog.com
In respect for the Supercharge Stations: "Consisting of between 40 and 50 stations, these stations will allow the entire German population to be within reach of a quick-charge and not have to drive more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) to get to the next."
Sorry, but does this guy know anything about the German population? Does he know how far the average drive goes? I believe nobody, let me say this again: Nobody will ever drive 124 miles just to "supercharge" his Tesla.
This would mean 2h drive to the Supercharge Station and 2 hours driving back.
Nobody would even travel 20 miles to do that.
I really have a ton of respect for his engineering work. Really I do, but he should just invest in some market research first, before stating that much bullshit.
If Germans really shall think about supercharging, there has to be a station within 5 miles, be it in a city, or be it in a more rural area. Or every about 50 miles, on a "autobahn" (highway).
[edit: Typo]
So the "superchargers" are only needed for long journeys that take you out of the car's normal range and so require a quick recharge at some point.
Therefore I stated, that every 50 miles on a highway would be ok, as this is something, that would work for long trips within Germany.
Elon: The idea that a photovoltaic (PV) solar panel cannot pay back its energy investment is flat out wrong by a huge margin, but I've heard it repeated by many otherwise intelligent people.
Martin: This reminds me of otherwise intelligent people who think of hydrogen as a fuel – who don’t realize that it takes lots more energy to create hydrogen gas and pressurize it than you could ever get out of it with a fuel cell (or any other way).
Elon: Right. The analysis for photovoltaics is straightforward and has been done by disparate researchers around the world, with the payback results in recent studies varying only by a year or two.
For example: "Hydrides chosen for storage applications provide low reactivity (high safety) and high hydrogen storage densities." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_storage#Chemical_stor....
It almost seems like Elon doesn't like fuel cells because of his battery investments.