this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023
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Canada's first hydrogen train is taking passengers | CBC News (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The major problems with hydrogen-electric cars are that hydrogen tanks are expensive and difficult to build, and that refuelling stations aren't exactly common.

Hydrogen-electric trains make much more sense, as the tanks scale well-- large tanks are more efficient storage than small ones-- and the fact that trains have set routes makes adding hydrogen infrastructure much simpler. As well, it likely wouldn't be difficult to extend range by simply adding more tanker cars behind the engine.

This is great news, and I hope the pilot project goes well and is expanded

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Hydrogen tanks are literally just tanks. They should not cost much more than say, a CNG tank.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Hydrogen atoms/molecules are small enough that they slowly phase through the sort of steel you'd use in a CNG or LPG tank, embrittling the steel along the way. Hydrogen tanks need to be made of specially designed alloys, which makes every part of building them more expensive.

The square-cube law, combined with that fact, means that bigger is generally better with hydrogen tanks. Especially so if it's cryogenic, which I don't expect any vehicle tanks to be, not worth the effort, but refuelling depots, probably.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

False. They merely need to be lined with something that is resistant to that problem. Nor are those alloys particular difficult to produce either.

The square-law benefits hydrogen, since the interior grows much faster than the cost of the tank, which is governed by the surface area. In fact, this is why tanks are cheaper than batteries at storing energy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

The square-law benefits hydrogen, since the interior grows much faster than the cost of the tank, which is governed by the surface area.

That's what I said