Hydrogen had a breakout year. Why are some VCs still skeptical?
Hydrogen had a breakout year. Why are some VCs still skeptical?
Hydrogen startups are on pace to raise more VC funding in 2023 than in the prior two years combined, according to PitchBook's 2024 Industrial Technology Outlook.
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As an EV owner, I would actually love to get a hydrogen car, home charging is just not as convenient especially for someone like me who travels long every day and unless you are in the main city, quick refills will always be better. Have an ioniq 5, the EV depreciation also pretty much sucks.
That being said EVs have come a long way, great improvements over the years and they continue to improve, charging is not the only issue, battery weight (I can literraly feel how heavy ioniq 5 is while driving compared to my old gas car), depreciation, degradation and etc.
FCEVs are basically BEVs, but without the giant battery weighing it down. It should be pretty obvious that FCEVs are a good idea to any BEV fan. Sadly, too many of them have drank the kool-aid and are opposed to further innovation beyond their own car.
But fuel cells still rely on raw materials and I imagine they are more energy intensive to produce and more expensive as a technology to develop and produce than the already established ICE technology which has been around for decades.
This is why I am personally rooting for hydrogen on ICE to be honest - besides the unmatched emotion an ICE can give you obviously haha.
A fuel cell is staggeringly small compared to the alternative. For instance, the fuel cell stack in the Mirai only weighs around 50kg. As a result, this is likely to be the cheapest and least resource intensive powertrain in the long-run.
ICE will have advantages in terms of design maturity and a having century of optimization. It will probably always be more desirable in sports cars. But eventually, even ICE cars will probably lose to FCEVs.
it seems like despite the fuel cell itself being relatively small, I just googled the weight of Toyota's hydrogen corolla racing prototype, which weighs 4210 lbs, while the toyota mirai weighs around 4400 lbs, Google bard also says Toyota is aiming to make it's hydrogen combustion corolla weigh less than 3,700 lbs as development continues.
Super interesting, I honestly think ICE development is being pushed to even more advanced levels, I think with the right infrastructure, they can certainly compete and if they take off I don't see fuel cells being favored over them.
It's crazy how despite how old the ICE technology is, these companies can still find ways to keep improving it, despite the engine being much heavier, the overall car weight is actually less than the Mirai which itself is a great feat. I'm personally optimistic about Hydrogen combustion for sure.
Also it seems like the weight on the Mirai could also be due to the battery it has as a backup after the fuel cell itself, and then electric motors, if you look at the whole package it does get heavier.
BEVs need spare battery capacity too. Plus electric motors. The main issue is that the Mirai is based off of the Toyota Crown, which is already pretty heavy. If they really wanted too, they could've shaved off a huge amount of weight.