If you want to bring the wrath of Twitter upon you, suggest that electric vehicles could be powered by something other than batteries. Only the utterly naïve seem to think that any technology bringing zero emission transportation should be worth the consideration. Mention fuel cells, and you will swiftly be denounced as an idiot, an agent of Big Oil, or worse. Tesla’s Elon Musk routinely piles invective on fuel cells, calling them “mind-bogglingly stupid,” “incredibly dumb” and “fool cells”—schoolyard taunts that resonate especially well with battery-bullies.
The other side of the holy war for the most part quietly turns the other cheek. Well, until this morning, as I sit down in a coffee shop in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station for an exclusive interview with one of the central figures of Toyota’s fuel cell project. Professor Katsuhiko Hirose has been in charge of Toyota’s Fuel Cell system development, and he tells me why Musk is rightfully afraid of the fuel cell: Hydrogen Fuel cell vehicles will eventually be cheaper than gasoline-powered cars, opening the door to zero-emission transportation around the world, and not just in rich pockets that can afford battery-electric vehicles that are dependent on scarce natural resources and government support.
PowerHouse Energy (LON:PHE) has developed a proprietary process technology called DMG® which can use waste plastic end-of-life-tyres and other waste streams to convert them into cost efficient energy in the form of electricity and ultra clean hydrogen gas fuel for use in cars and commercial vehicles (FCEV: Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles) and other industrial uses. The PowerHouse technology is the world’s first proven, modular hydrogen from waste (HfW) process.
