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Old 07-19-2017, 02:08 AM   #18 (permalink)
seifrob
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I was referring to bad rentability, although my assumption was based on quick back of the envelope estimate.

Quote:
Originally Posted by smallscaleH2 View Post
You are comparing the price the owner of the refill station would pay to the price of the electricity from the grid ? If so, that's a wrong comparison; you should be comparing it to the price of fuel (say gasoline).
When you compare this, it should be way cheaper.
Now I had little time to search on:

According to this source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolysis_of_water which cites this source You need approximately 65 kWh to produce 1 kg of hydrogen, which in turn can produce 23.3 kWh in a (fuel cell) car. So the exchange would be 65 kWh of electricity versus 3 liters of petrol, as 3 liters of petrol have about same energy content (24 kWh). Assuming price of ten cents per kWh you basically pay $6.50 in electricity to "manufacture" hydrogen equivalent of three liters of gas worth of how much? two-fifty? It makes sense only under specific circumstances, like you need to run tractors and farming equipment under large glasshouses and cannot risk any pollution etc, but otherwise it do not see it as viable bussiness modell. (And in glasshouses, I would go for loong extension cords or overhead wires)

Of course, you still haven't acconted the equipment price...

Sorry to be a spoilfun, but I hope we collectively saved you huge money and disappointment. There is a reason 95% of hydrogen is made from natural gas.

Last edited by seifrob; 07-19-2017 at 02:48 AM.. Reason: clarified one sentence
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