Just yesterday, we learned that:
GM has ended its development of next-generation hydrogen fuel cell technology for everyday passenger vehicles, citing a need to focus resources on its electric vehicle (EV) strategy. As part of this change, the company has canceled a planned hydrogen fuel cell factory in Detroit and laid off employees from its Hydrotec brand. GM stated that it wants to put all its effort toward its EV future, as the path to a sustainable business in fuel cells for consumer vehicles is “long and uncertain.”
“Uncertain” seems to be putting it kindly; absolutely impossible sounds more apt, especially given its history.
The effort to establish the “hydrogen economy” began in the early 1970s with the OPEC embargo on gasoline that did great damage to the U.S. economy and angered the hell out of the American consumer.
Yet we learned quickly that replacing gas with hydrogen was to be an enormous undertaking, as:
Hydrogen was difficult and expensive to produce
Hydrogen fuel cells, the devices that create electricity from hydrogen, were also expensive, and fragile as well
Replacing the fuel delivery infrastructure (more than 150K gas stations) with hydrogen was costly beyond measure.
It’s hard to know exactly why it took the American automakers more than half a century to make this decision. Common wisdom is that the world of Big Oil/Auto wanted to prevent the world from moving to electric transportation, so they held out the bogus notion that hydrogen was “right around the corner,” and that just a bit of patience was required.
Well, it seems like today may be the day that this notion died, after five full decades.
A friend from Texas writes: It’s been an interesting week! A lot to reflect on. And Texas seems to be the epicenter. Folks are pretty flabbergasted over the defeat of all statewide Republican candidates (including state supreme court justices) and the election of a Democratic party-controlled state house.
Yes, Texas blew everyone’s mind. I think what the GOP experienced was a double-whammy if you will.
Consumer prices are high, due at least in part to Trump’s inane and illegal war in Iran. This is impacting the lives of working class Americans.
and
I’m pleased to be able to report that many people still have a conscience, which causes them to reject the GOP’s cruelty, dishonesty, dismissal of science, and criminality.
As shown here, white men, especially uneducated white men, are still not able to see that Trump is terrible for America.
If the last two years didn’t change that, it appears that nothing will.
The vast majority of Americans are thrilled that the midterms brought us the “blue tsunami,” but there are a couple of things that don’t really add up. You may have noticed that:
The U.S. wants a random alcoholic Fox News “journalist’s” head on the plate for having orchestrated the war in Iran, when all he was doing was pursuing his loyalty to Donald Trump, the man who started this asinine and grossly illegal war.
There seems to be no effort to cause Trump, who tried to violently overthrow the U.S. federal government, to face accountability for his treasonous acts.
What’s up with the media? Is there a concerted effort to avoid the facts? What’s the problem with honesty, and telling Americans the truth? Isn’t this the clearest instance of gaslighting in our history? Are we now trying to pretend that Trump never existed?
If such a landslide victory against a would-be autocrat had happened anywhere else on Earth, that traitor would be in prison now, in most cases facing execution.
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