On Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:21:58 +0100, Peter Masson wrote:

"allantracy" wrote

The future for cars looks very bleak unless they can be persuaded to
run on electricity.

Though there was a steam car around a while ago how ironic would that
be?

Battery technology can never be made efficient,

Define the meaning you are picking for "efficient" in this context..

so even with nuclear or
other renewable generation of electricity, battery cars can never be
made efficient.

See above. What do you mean by this? Cost? Energy density? Charge cycling
efficiency? Lifespan? Charging time?

The other possibility is an efficient means of storing energy in road
vehicles without reliance on carbon emissions. In principle this can be
done by using electricity from renewables to electrolyse water, using
the hydrogen as the energy store, and regenerating the electricity on
board in a fuel cell.

In other words, an energy storage medium with output converted to
electricity..

Last I heard (about a year ago, and from someone involved heavily in
hydrogen cell development), H2 cells and batteries were technologies
advancing at comparable rates, and although he was backing H2 cells, it
was too early to call which would win out.




--
Speaking for myself, and no-one but myself