Hydrogen being the future of cars is a hill I’ll die on but it has to be stored in a compact, safe non-combustible storage form which is the “big problem” that needs solving before it catches on like wildfire.
If my former Honda Civic NG's natural gas tank could be filled at the same pressures of the Toyota Mirai's Hydrogen tank, my civic would have gotten ~950 miles to a fill. (3600psi vs IIRC 10,000psi). I assume there's a chemistry reason they're not comparable.
I also have to assume the DOT approvals ensure some safety in both (although the pressures are a lot to contemplate in either car) -- there have been NG crashes where the car was consumed by fire, but the tank did not explode/rupture. They're stout and well-considered things. I don't think the H2 storage in the Mirai (and whatever the Hyundai one was called) is the problem. I think lack of access to filling stations is the problem. I've owned 2 NG Civics and while NG stations were in oddball locations, they were available.
I thought the Mirai was a cool car, especially the second gen. Now they're... what, very expensive doorstops? Super unfortunate! I hope Toyota do right by their early-adopters. I don't expect Hyundai gives a rip, but they could surprise me also.
I've actually come around a bit on hydrogen. If you think of it as an energy storage/transfer medium for renewable power, it actually makes some sense.
We're just not at the point yet where we have enough excess electricity from solar/wind on the grid to justify it yet.
How long does it takes before lawmakers understand that hydrogen has too many difficulties to make it feasable for consumer commercial fuel. A nuclear fuel cell powered car would be easier to keep safe than the ultra complex attributes of hydrogen systems.
I disagree. This news makes the future of hydrogen cars much more certain, just not in the direction some people may hope.