Featured Great Use for Toyota's Hydrogen Fuel Cells

that's the rub. It's likely akin to those honkin' diesel generators used to charge ev's ..... or the hydrogen filled diesel tanker chase truck following behind the hydrogen car. Only to fill the hydrogen car w/ fuel that's primarily reformed via fossil fuels.
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So the output is about 28% of one Tesla 250kw supercharger plug.

I guess there is some emergency situation where this is a good idea.

Mike

 

dang, i thought they generated hydrogen

 

Tesla has deployed diesel powered chargers to Superchargers during holiday rushes.

 

Did you mean "has" or "had"? If "has", where are these diesel generators located?

The reason I ask is this Wiki reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Supercharger

. . .
Tesla makes V3 superchargers at Giga New York.[36] Tesla first opened V3 stations in 2019, and they can provide up to 15 miles per minute (depending on circumstances).[37] A 1 MW charge box supplies 4 stalls at up to 250 kW each,[38][39] and can have a 575 kW battery storage.
. . . ​

I remember some of the earliest reports about 5 years ago on an incident of Tesla using rented diesel generators. Some Superchargers in California were locally saturated over a holiday weekend. So someone at Tesla rented diesel generators to handle the unexpected, peak load. But this never made sense as dealing with utility power cables is not trivial.

Bob Wilson

 

It was exactly that.

Just pointing out that Tesla had to deploy generators at times. Work rents them every year to run things while the annual electric maintenance was being done. As long as there is a need for these generators, this fuel cell units might be viable.

 

The diesel generators should be able to power L2 chargers via NEMA 14-50 or equivalent high current outlets. I just don't see the diesel generators powering the SuperCharger power electronics. This would also increase the number of charging stalls.

Bob Wilson

 

this one time stunt from a few years back came to mind.
kind of impressive
https://electrek.co/2018/02/16/tesla-model-s-charged-diesel-generator/

what wouldd REALLY be fun after the above experiment - would be to see how much diesel would be necessary to get the hydrogen reformed - and see if the hydrogen car can even get 5 miles down the road

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There was a Leaf that had a micro turbine powered generator on a small trailer wired into the battery.

Bob Wilson

 

To power one L3 charger at 250 KW you need a big honking diesel generator like this. I picked a mobile one because odds are if you are doing this its because you haven't built the infrastructure yet, and it will be moved.

https://www.zoro.com/generac-mobile-portable-generator-285-gal-ultra-low-sulfur-diesel-mdg250df4-std/i/G3294900/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=surfaces&utm_campaign=shopping%20feed&utm_content=free%20google%20shopping%20clicks&gclid=Cj0KCQiAn4SeBhCwARIsANeF9DIdCp5M25fWfGjrZpdpQWSJcGuesBCjmlEtoOF5Fea_Ki_QS61OOLQaAg8dEALw_wcB

Add a 100 KWh battery to the mix and you can probably charge the first 2 vehicles at 175 KW in a 2 headed system.

IIRC the toyota has a 128 kw fuel cell, maybe you pack 2 of those and that big battery for a 2 headed system.

The problem with the fuel cell system versus the diesel is That diesel can run for 24 hours full power about 400 gallons, that is a fairly small inexpensive tank. That is about Need it to run longer bigger tanks are readily available. That is about 120 - 50 Kwh charges.

Want to run that fuel cell the same amount you need about 300 kg of hydrogen. Tube trailers can carry up to 500 kg, so its not really necessary to replenish daily, but this is much more expensive and large. I can see government subsidies getting these in remote locations, but doesn't make sense where there is a reliable grid. That fuel cell should be less expensive up front than a reliable efficient diesel generator. The cost of fuel and storage is the problem, but it is solvable. Much less expensive in terms of TCO would be a renewable methanol generator or fuel cell if renewability is the key.