Elon Musk on why Hydrogen fuel cell is dumb (2015.1.13)

Elon Musk speaks at a news conference after delivering a speech at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. He touches low Tesla sales in China and reiterate his doubts on hydrogen fuel cell and the highly anticipated Model 3.

Overview:
00:00. Tesla sales
05:00. Model X update
10:20. Hydrogen fuel cell is dumb
15:00. Carbon tax
16:10. Tesla sales growth
18:00. Superchargers
19:10. Autonomous vehicle prospect
20:30. About Model 3
24:15. Commitment on staying at Tesla

Date: January 13, 2015
Elon was 43 years old

17 thoughts on “Elon Musk on why Hydrogen fuel cell is dumb (2015.1.13)”

  1. Tesla's got nothing really. They aren't working on a better primary energy source, a better energy storage device or really anything special in the engine category as far as DC motors. They are just a chassis and an infotainment console.

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  2. Sweet baby Jesus, if I have all the government grants, I can build a space colony! Got to love that tax payer money! – back to the ox and cart!

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  3. well. he is a computer engineer not a mechanical nor chemical engineer. he has not understanding of helpful hydrogen powered cars are. Why would some companies like BMW Toyota build something explosive. He is a retard. Just keep building internet websites nerd!! stupidest answer that i have ever heard.

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  4. What many people seem to not realize is that Lithium Polymer batteries can be rejuvenated quite easisly. I did this with smaller ones and it worked perfectly. You just freeze it to at least -20°C for a few hours, that breaks the internal crystal structures that form over time. And then you charge it with 10% of its capacity for about 20 hours. So for a 2000mAh battery you would charge that with 200mA.
    This very simple method can even revive totally dead batteries after a deep discharge.
    And even if this Method did not restore the full capacity, the "reformated" cells can be used for many applications where you don't need the absolute maximum energy density.
    So, if a car battery has declined to a point where it must be replaced, the cells can still be reused for power walls or grid storage applications.

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  5. He gave what is the key advantage to hydrogen and missed it . It is an energy storage system, and quite a good one from the point of fast fueling compared to batteries . Much renewable power is produced when we do not need it , hydrogen gives you a way to store it and use the off peak hydro . Methane , propane etc do not .

    Batteries are great and if we ever make one that charges in minutes not hours , can store the output of Niagara falls on off peak time , is light , lasts the life of a car and is not a toxic nightmare of rare earth materials batteries will win out . Unfortunately that battery is called a dream. Right up there with fusion . Sure we might get it …..someday . Hydrogen works today .

    A hydrogen plant next to Niagara falls, or a nuclear plant can allow the utility to run flat out all the time and store the off peak power in hydrogen . Because this is power these utilities can not sell right now and it costs very little extra to produce it is cheap hydro that can get long term contract .

    Basically the hydrogen facility will buy all your left over capacity that you can't sell and make hydrogen . Thus adding a profit stream to the utility where there was none before and maximizing utilization of the plant . Win win for all .

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  6. Elon Musk is dumb.  I he would be a real engineer and have any knowledge about battery chemistry and fuel cells he wouldn't use the word "dumb". Unfortunately he is just a mascot.

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  7. He seems to not take into account technological advances that are sure to come that make the harvesting of hydrogen fuel economical easy and practical. Years ago batteries were not good enough to run cars.

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  8. Every human shall have the capacity to generate all the power he or she needs for his or her own family and this shall include the capacity to generate the fuel for transportation. Hydrogen extracted from fossil fuel is not a dump idea for he oil companies…they get two products instead of one…that is genius for them actually. But that is not the solution because it depends on the same fossil fuel we want to preserve for future generations. NOW, THE HYDROGEN EXTRACTED VIA HYDROLYSIS (FROM WATER OR SNOW) IS an excellent idea that will help to create a national network of hydrogen "producers" AT THE LOWEST POSSIBLE COST. Since 2003 i have patented an "accelerator" that uses the force of horses, oxen, buffaloes, etc and can be used to produce tons of electricity…746 watts per second …2.68 megawatts per hour per horse to be more precise. Any farmer in American can start generating large amounts of electricity in his or her own farm…or using the electricity to produce hydrogen and to sell it to the new energy wave…(example fuel cell vehicles)…the environmental cost is WATER!!!…and anyone can do it with the same ease as boiling it!!!…all you need to have a a horse or a caw for than matter and place it in my accelerator mechanism!!!..tow oxen could produce around 5 thousand dollars en energy equivalent in ten hours of work…that is the average energy consumption of an American family in FIVE MONTHS!!!…in just one day…way better than solar and wind…in simple exchange for the turf, water and tlc to the animals. I am willing to offer a percentage of all the future profits derived from franchising this solution and all we need is to put this pilots in the market. Product to be Made in USA by using local resources. Instead of paying to oil from outside, every person who wanted to become an energy provider will do so from water itself. Please let me know if you know anyone who might be interested in buying my idea. Thank you.

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  9. and still you let toyota take some shares of your company? elon. you can better watch out what your saying. even for a genius.

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  10. Another Sell out. You will see. Hydrogen Technology squashed so governments can consume your freedom. You don't store hydrogen, you make it. Added hydrogen increases efficiency of fuels. He doesn't like hydrogen because it will render his electric car obsolete. The problem with current hydrogen generators is they fail due to design flaw which is gasket utilized design.
    See Gasketless HHO…
    Let the hate begin….or freedom. your choice.

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  11. It is tottally untrue that electrolysers are inefficient. The PEM/AEM has efficiency of no less than 90%. The batteries themselves have the same. You always have to store more energy, than you have taken. So why to use hydrogen? I will tell you.I met a college of mine, he has an electric bike which he modified. He added a little fuel cell stack to it, which is smaller in size and mass than the lithium battery. The mileage of the bike without the stack was around 100 km , with the stack it was around 700 km. Think about it.The only cons of hydrogen technology is that they are really expensive, thats it .So if you have a though , that with lithium batteries was the same years ago, than why not the hydrogen become cheaper at near future.Reagards

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