flotsam

Does this mean the tank in a hydrogen fuel cell car has to cryogenically store the hydrogen?

They'll have to supply hydrogen fuel stations because large trucks aren't viable with batteries. They might make it illegal for cars to buy hydrogen as they do with red diesel. But eventually they'll have to let cars fill up with hydrogen too. Articles are claiming hydrogen is difficult to transport and store. HOW?

EVs are a disaster. You have to plan your long journey meticulously. You hope to find a fast charger that's actually working because a slow charger means waiting hours and hours even if there's no queue and especially in the Winter. As I've said, it's probably to "encourage" us to buy solar panels and wind turbines, as well as supplying battery back-up for the grid. Empty shelves are also here again, just as they were during Covid-19 lock-down. Are we supposed to have our own hens in the back yard and an allotment to grow our own fruit and veg.?

BMW opts for HYDROGEN!!!!! "Goodbye E-cars: BMW Wants to Mass-Produce Hydrogen Cars" Don't bother with a battery powered car. It looks like the government wants you to buy one so that you supply the grid with your car battery, degrading its life, which is only a few years as it is and then buy solar panels and wind turbines too. The only maintenance, as I understand it, is just changing a few filters on a hydrogen fuel cell. Stuff Elon Musk and his million mile battery which hasn't seen the light of day anyway!

The House of Lords has attacked hydrogen, at least in the short term. The hydrogen industry has hit back. One letter in the Telegraph claims that it costs about £10,000 to install (minus the government subsidy) and £500 maintenance costs each year as they're unreliable and break down. Below 0°C they have problems. Obviously, trying to extract heat from the air means the colder it gets the less efficient they become. You're not supposed to put freezers outdoors either because they stop working if it gets too cold, freezers being heat pumps in reverse.

Yes, once they get started they're very difficult to put out. LiFePo4 apparently doesn't have this thermal run-away issue and CATL are now also producing Li-Na batteries, though I don't know if they have this issue. Apparently they can charge much faster.

You're right. But even worse is commuting into London. You arrive at the platform 43 years early on a freezing cold morning, the train driver hasn't bothered to get out of bed so the train is late. There's no seats available so you have to stand all the way, having bought a 1st class season ticket in the hope of avoiding this. And then they go on strike too.

I just use wire wool on mine because I'm poor.

Presumably because public chargers charge a higher rate than the electricity form your home. Other bad news is that the number of electric cars are increasing at a faster rate than the number of chargers. I still think the government's "nudge unit" are trying to nudge everyone into spending their own money on home-insulation, wind turbines and solar panels instead of ACTUALLY organising a sensible infrastructure. Isn't that what we're supposed to be paying our taxes for? They're also still pushing heat-pumps rather than rolling out hydrogen for home-heating. But all I've read suggests they cost an arm and a leg, only heat to about 40°C and you need loads of insulation, solar panels and HUGE radiators otherwise your freeze. If they stick their neck out and try and do something, then they risk getting the blame if it all goes south. So all we're being left with is bad options so that we have to spend all the time, money and effort to cope with what the government have left as options. Despite Elon Musk touting a million-mile battery, I haven't heard of anything developing. So after about six or seven years you have a battery that won't accept charge anymore; a very expensive brick.

And we already know the electricity grid can't take it if everyone had a battery powered car. There's talk of cars feeding electricity back into the grid, but that sounds as though they want cars to store the excess energy from intermittent renewables.

Apparently the national gas grid is looking at hydrogen! FINALLY! Don't bother with a krappy heat pump!

Maybe, but it looks like they're going to offer hydrogen for haulage, industry and shipping first, whilst herding the masses towards battery powered cars. It's similar to the red diesel only to be sold to truckers.

Lexus have opted to ditch hydrogen. So once again we're being given VHS rather than Betamax or Video2000. As I understand it, maintenance on a hydrogen fuel cell consists of only swapping a few filters, whereas a battery just loses the ability to retain charge which is why a Tesla owner blew up his car after receiving a €30,000 bill to have it replaced. The Mercedes EQS can charge from 10% to 100% in half an hour. But that still means long queues.

I'd like to see proof. My phone battery clearly loses capacity a short time after buying it, though the degradation appears to slow after that. Losing 3% after 5 years appears to defy the chemistry.

So, if they're too cold they have to be warmed up and using the heater seriously hits range, if they're too hot they have to be cooled down (do they have air-con?), they take an age to charge, they set themselves on fire (apparently LiFePo4 are OK), they lose capacity by a huge amount as anyone with a mobile phone knows, whereupon you're left with a huge bill to replace the battery or a brick, and they're really heavy. Now we're being told that on long journeys, especially with high electricity prices, it's more expensive than petrol!!!

The Guardian reports: "Energy prices to soar again as Jeremy Hunt rejects pleas to halt rise"

The Daily Telegraph offered a list of energy savings devices: "11 of the best energy-saving products that every home needs this winter". But it's the usual bad advice. All the products were ridiculously expensive, because the Telegraph makes money from advertising. But there was no mention of an induction hob despite the HUGE savings in electricity.

Yes, you can buy an induction heat diffuser. Some are place under the pan. Others are placed inside the pan but they warn that you have to cover them with liquids, presumably because if you try to heat them up without, they will warp.

Actually electric furnances in the steel industry are supposed to be quicker to heat up. Induction heats the pan directly and I'd say was quicker than gas.

No, I still use my electric kettle as it's more convenient than a pan for boiling water and it's only slightly less efficient.

Yep, as I said it makes other electric hobs obsolete. I'm guessing the others are cheaper. Pans have to have a flat base and stick to a magnet. Otherwise, you can buy a steel disc to put inside non-ferrous pans.

It's already paid for itself in the time I save. It's got a timer, unlike my ceramic halogen hob, so I don't have to watch the pan. Plus, it's so quick the food gets properly cooked because I don't lose patience. I even have to turn the power down to it's lowest setting of 200W whilst the food is cooking. It's great!!! It makes all other electric hobs obsolete. Next, I'm eyeing a battery power station for my PC, using LiFePo4 batteries as they don't suffer from thermal-runaway and last longer than Li-ion. But it would take a lot longer to justify the cost. There's one I've found which also acts as a UPS, switching from mains to battery in 30ms. Other than the fridge-freezer and lighting, there's not much else I use.

As I first posted, £26. It's a portable single-ring hob weighing less than a bag of sugar.

Yeah, I'd prefer a gas hob. But I've got a ceramic hob which is slow to heat up and slow to cool down. Ceramics are not a good heat conductor. The time saved using the Induction hob alone makes it worth it.

I estimated it would pay for itself in 90 days, but having tried it out, perhaps even sooner.