What's the truck drivetrain of the future?
#Trevor Milton, Founder of the Fuel Cell Truck Startup #Nikola Motors, has published an article titled “Hydrogen vs Battery Electric. Why Nikola is the leader.” Now you have to know that Nikola hasn’t made a single Dollar of revenue, but it’s worth more than USD 20 billion on the stock market.
His “friend” Elon Musk then twittered “Fuel Cells – Fool sells” (referring to his opinions on both the technology and TM). I think Trevor got really upset. That’s at least my interpretation of the smartphone video he posted afterwards on Instagram, explaining to “all those haters out there that Nikola is not fake”. To prove that, he took a ride on the truck prototype on the parking lot at around 3 km/h without trailer. Mission accomplished. No fake.
In the meantime, the people at Hyundai were chilling in their Korean offices following the ship via GPS that brings the first batch of their 1,600 hydrogen trucks to Switzerland. And probably, the Hyundai salesmen are laughing about the kindergarten quarrel between Fremont, California and Phoenix, Arizona since they already are in series production and selling their products for real money.
I don’t know what the future will look like. However, what I constantly see is how difficult it is for traditional companies to destroy their business model and build a new one. This phenomenon is called the “Innovator’s Dilemma”.
The largest independent Diesel engine manufacturer is a company called Cummins. Can you imagine how difficult it must be for the leadership team of Cummins when everybody is talking about “Electric”, “Battery” or “Fuel Cell”? That “Zero Emission” has become some sort of religion for politicians? Diesel with zero emissions – a contradiction.
Cummins is actively tackling this topic. They have published an article recently claiming: “Today, we have 99.9% Diesel and 0.1% Electric – in the year 2050, we’ll have 99.9% electric and 0.1% Diesel.” Wow!
The head of the division that shall accomplish this mission is Amy Adams. She’s not only supposed to show the world it’s possible, but also to overcome all the internal resistances that exist in Columbus – like in Wolfsburg, Munich and Detroit. What a huge task.
This Wednesday, Amy will explain to explain to you, dear readers, how they will do it.
Title: Zero-carbon transportation by 2050: is it possible?
Speaker: Amy Adams, Vice President, Cummins, Inc.
Date: July 22, 2020, 4pm CET (10am New York etc. - 1h earlier than usual)
Price: free
Registration: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/100/l9z3mc11
So let me ask you: Where can you learn more about the mobility of the future than in those webinars with the people who are actively creating it? Those who are not waiting if something happens. Those who roll up their sleeves and develop batteries, fuel cells and hybrid drivetrains?
And can you understand that I think the Webinar Collection is the most valuable source of knowledge in the world on hydrogen? For ridiculous 197 Euros you will get more than 30 hours and 500 slides with invaluable knowledge for your company already today. And it grows every week – without extra cost for you. Please click here: https://mission-hydrogen.de/webinar-collection/ And there’s one more thing: If you order it and then you decide it was a mistake, we’ll give you a refund within 30 days. No questions asked.
Happy decision making. :-)
David
PS: As usual, the webinar will have an extensive Q&A session. You can ask Amy everything you want to know about Diesel engines, batteries, fuel cells and electrolyzers. :-) https://event.webinarjam.com/register/100/l9z3mc11
PS 2: You might have seen that Cummins is one of the sponsors of the webinar series. Of course it helps to be a sponsor if you want to present your company to our audience. This email blog goes to some 30,000 readers, and on average, the webinars have more than 1,000 participants. If this might be interesting for your company as well, please let me know.
FDI Energy, Inc. CEO, Fuel Cell Technology Inventor
4 年Avinash, Let’s assess your questions and statements, involving the “unrealistic” comparison between Fuels (LNG & Diesel Fuel), Power Plants (Engines & Fuel Cells) and Energy Storage Devices (Batteries): - LNG may “burn” somewhat cleaner than Diesel Fuel...but combustion still remains inefficient and polluting; - Fuel Cells (electrochemical power generation devices) are, by definition, nonpolluting and at least 2-3 times more efficient than engines - even when coupled with fuel reformers (onboard/on-demand hydrogen separation devices and associated waste heat recycling options); -When using Batteries (energy storage devices), we must take into consideration the efficiency of the energy source, transmission, distribution, charging and drive system energy losses (fuel to wheel efficiency)...at which point, the actual efficiencies area lower than those associated with ICEs and emissions can be worse. Conclusion: Fuel Cell Propulsion Systems using all types of fuels (especially biofuels) and incorporating on-demand hydrogen production and carbon capture capabilities, constitute the only solution to achieving our global emissions reduction and resource conservation goals.
Lead Design Engineer | Cryogenics | LNG | Hydrogen
4 年What's wrong with LNG? It is clean burning as well with far less carbon emissions than diesel.? Fuel cell has an efficiency just over ICE and half that of battery.? The infrastructure required to generate 100% renewable energy hydrogen is enormous, compared to LNG infrastructure.??
Energy #emissionfree, #cleanenergy, #communications,#advancedfission and #fuelstorage
4 年https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/072420-nextera-investing-in-hydrogen-rapidly-expanding-renewables-storage
FDI Energy, Inc. CEO, Fuel Cell Technology Inventor
4 年1. Our high energy density/compact footprint fuel cells and fuel cell power plants have been engineered for mass-production (millions of units/year) 2. Our Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) incorporating on-demand hydrogen production capabilities will compete in price and performance with the ICEVs, while offering zero emissions, 2-3 times greater range, greater passenger and cargo room, drastically reduced maintenance costs, higher reliability, fuel flexibility and the ability to sell power to the electric grids in parked mode. 3. Hydrogen combustion has been a controversial topic. Perhaps time has come to let go of the engine and enjoy the multitude of benefits that come along with Fuel Cells and FCEVs. “Hydrogen internal combustion engines still produce some of the most scandalous criteria pollutants, NOx—which made their “well-to-wheels” emissions well, not so green, even before the Volkswagen emissions scandal put the focus on that component of tailpipe emissions... So go ahead, declare hydrogen internal combustion dead. But we're not ready to make such pronouncements for fuel cells.” https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1122364_is-hydrogen-internal-combustion-a-better-idea-than-fuel-cells-engineering-explained