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Ask HN: Fuel cells or battery electric for vehicles?

3 points| naskwo | 4 years ago

Context: I don't own shares in VW or Tesla.

Today, I read an advert for the new Toyota Mirai. I was impressed with the 650 km range and 5 min refueling time. Turns out, this car is powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Could someone on HN shed some light on the benefits of the battery electric strategy that VW [1] and Tesla are betting on?

5 minutes charging for a 650 km range seems like a very compelling argument for fuel cells!

[1] https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1127660_battery-electric-or-hydrogen-fuel-cell-vw-lays-out-why-one-is-the-winner

2 comments

sbierwagen|4 years ago

Infrastructure. Fuel cell cars need hydrogen filling stations, which don't exist. Heck, EV charging in the US is still lousy, and that's after a decade of consumer use.

mattbillenstein|4 years ago

I watched some of this video about the tradeoffs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoXJYPfag1I