Nikola Motor Company reveals its class 8 tractor design (EV/serial hybrid)

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by sendler

Ditching the CNG powertrain in favour of Hydrogen 4 months before product launch is a big ditch to crawl out of. They promised free fuel for the first buyers and 55 filling stations across the USA. This appears to have become the next Elio. There are 952 CNG stations in the USA.
.
Alternative Fuels Data Center: Natural Gas Fueling Station Locations
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And 31 Hydrogen
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Alternative Fuels Data Center: Hydrogen Fueling Station Locations
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What is up with the one lonely hydrogen station in South Carolina?

[seifrob]

I have just found this:
Why a hydrogen economy doesn't make sense

So I am posting it here.

EDIT: The article is ten years old, so never mind. Today maybe we humans can perhaps produce hydrogen in better ways. (although I still doubt it personally)

[freebeard]

Another headache is storage. When storing liquid hydrogen, some gas must be allowed to evaporate for safety reasons—meaning that after two weeks, a car would lose half of its fuel, even when not being driven.

I thought it was because the hydrogen atoms are too small to be contained by anything short of graphene.

They need a third column: Solar to DC storage to the vehicle's batteries.

[seifrob]

I think that danger of explosion of pressurized container is order of magnitude greater than porous leaks. So it evaporates freely, cooling the rest.

Is hydrogen in graphene structure somehow trapped? I thought you need some energy to release it.

[freebeard]

I was thinking about tanks wrapped with graphene tape, but looking into it, it's more complex.

Tiny little tanks:
Graphene-wrapped Nanocrystals Power New Fuel Cell Design

Hydrogen fuel out of thin air?
Graphene membrane allows mobile Fuel Cells to harvest Hydrogen straight from Air

It stops hydrogen and helium but water evaporates right through [graphene oxide]?
Graphene: Supermaterial goes superpermeable

[sendler]

This is starting to sound like the next Elio.
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Nikola One hydrogen range-extended electric truck to be unveiled tonight
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[seifrob]

Sooo,
Did they unveil anything worth mentioning?
That article just parrots bits from press releases.
Anybody seen podcast??? No info on this side of the pond.

EDIT: I see their webpage now. Apparently I am 12 hours or so ahead. My fault.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by sendler

This is starting to sound like the next Elio.

Even though I'll not hold my breath for the Elio, it still seems more realistic than this Nikola truck. At first the hype was all around the natural gas-powered turboshaft engine, seemingly ignoring the multifuel capability inherent to the Brayton cycle, and now they take an even more complicated approach with hydrogen.

[oil pan 4]

I like how they do a press release, wait a few years, never build anything in the mean time then change the goal so it's even more politically correct but even more unattainable.
I'm starting to feel like they exist only to collect funding and not produce anything.

[samwichse]

Meh, as soon as they went hydrogen, it was over.

Cool concept though.