MIKE ROSS wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 MR> "Roy J. Tellason" wrote to "Matt Mc_Carthy" (13
Mar 03  20:54:10) 
 MR> --- on the topic of "PnP Monitor?"

 MMC> That's a question that's been bothering me for some time.
 MMC> Industrial Hydrogen is presently far too expensive.

 RJT> There was a rather interesting article in Analog magazine a while
 RJT> back,  in which they were talking about electric cars,  but the one
 RJT> thing that stuck with me from it holds true for most alternative
 RJT> propulsion methods,  that being that there's a huge infrastructure in
 RJT> place now to support gas-driven vehicles,  one that would have to be
 RJT> either augmented or replaced to allow most people's vehicles to run on
 RJT> something else.
 MR> [,,,]
 RJT> Another thing that came out in that article was that if we wanted to
 RJT> switch to electric vehicles,  we'd have to *double* the capacity of
 RJT> the grid in this country,  something that wouldn't happen overnight.

 MR> [,,,]

 MR> I'm guessing that actually the fuel cell idea is probably going to
 MR> catch on. 

I can see where it would,  if they get the manufacturing costs down low enough.

 MR> The reason being that a fuel cell combined with a "pre-reactor", 
 MR> i.e. using regular gasoline, means the existing infrastructure 
 MR> doesn't have to be converted as the electric vehicles come off the 
 MR> showroom floors. The next step to change the infrastructure can 
 MR> then proceed more gradually with some overlap as it did from horse 
 MR> and buggy to automobile.

That's the only way it can happen,  I'd think.

 MR> The fuel cell is thus a key element in any likely future. Change 
 MR> the "pre-reactor" to use another fuel besides gasoline and the 
 MR> "car" will still work the same as before. With this scenario the 
 MR> electrical grid doesn't require a drastic rapid upgrading.

I like the idea of something that will run on a lot of different fuels.

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