"Roy J. Tellason" wrote to "Matt Mc_Carthy" (13 Mar 03  20:54:10)
 --- 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.
[,,,]
 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.

[,,,]

I'm guessing that actually the fuel cell idea is probably going to catch
on. The reason being that a fuel cell combined with a "pre-reactor",
i.e. using regular gasoline, means the existing infrastructure doesn't
have to be converted as the electric vehicles come off the showroom
floors. The next step to change the infrastructure can then proceed more
gradually with some overlap as it did from horse and buggy to
automobile. The fuel cell is thus a key element in any likely future.
Change the "pre-reactor" to use another fuel besides gasoline and the
"car" will still work the same as before. With this scenario the
electrical grid doesn't require a drastic rapid upgrading.

 Mike
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