It's still in it's early stages, i'd imagine that later on they plan on making it able to store much more hydrogen.

I wonder how aerogels would work for this.
They are being used for hydrolysis.

"The carbon aerogel nanostructure provides a hydrogen/oxygen collection area that is 60,000 times the surface area of the aerogel"

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/09/llnl_licenses_c.html

Or, you could just use an electric car.

Do you have one?

Article over at Slate on a Tesla test drive:

Eberhard says traditional carmakers have failed with electrics for two reasons. First, they market them as "penalty boxes" for environmental do-gooders and gas-mileage-obsessed penny-pinchers. Second, they just don't understand batteries. The Tesla's giant lithium-ion battery pack gives it the power to hit 60 in four seconds, to run 250 miles without a recharge, and to charge rapidly at its home charging base (a one-hour charge will take you 80 miles; it takes a 3.5-hour charge to go 250 miles). You can even plug into a wall socket at a roadside stop in a pinch. That makes the Roadster a viable commuter car and weekend day-tripper.

Moving in the right direction here. Their next model under development is a high-end sedan that will compete with a BMW 5-series. I imagine that they'll be able to do down market as their technology improved and costs drop.

I agree with pizmo. Matt and Cervus, where is this electric car you are touting, or rather, this practical electric car. Give us an electric car with at least a 300 mile range, that can be recharged in the time it takes to fuel a gasoline car. It must have heat for the Alaskan winters, and A/C for the Arizona summers. Have at least a 3 year warranty, and be able to be financed for 5-7 years, with factory support. Seat four adults, and their luggage, in comfort. Oh, and the initial price must compete with similar sized gasoline cars. Until then, cars like the Tesla will be just toys for the Jay Lenos and George Clooneys of the world, to show off in, or, to gloat in.

Hydrogen storage technology is in its infancy, and has much room to develop. Much like the gas powered cars of the early twentieth century. Battery storage appears to be hitting a wall in regards to power, range and price. I hope I am wrong. I would love to have a battery powered lightweight two seat commuter type car the size of a Cobra, with no frills other than window defrost and light AC. Simple, easy to service, and inexpensive.

The only big limitation on batteries right now is the price.

And recharge times. And range. And longevity. And cold weather performance.

Wall ... what wall? I've only been coming to this site for a year and I've seen significant progress in only that much time. More progress than I've seen in hydrogen storage.

They mentioned power, range, and price. Certainly price has dropped considerably for hydrogen (at least in the lab), and fuel cells have come down considerably as well. Storage of hydrogen per se is already at a point of acceptable range, per this article, and since quick fueling isn't a problem with this technology, it's mostly just economics at this point - which is obviously crucial.

Not sure how cold weather performance is coming along, though.

recharge times - overnight will work for 90% of the population .. I'm looking at puting some ultacaps in my e-cycle (200 km range) that will charge to 80% in 5 minutes. Altair batteries have similar recharge capabilities. I spend a lot less time charging my bike (all I have to do is plug it in) than I used to spend driving to a gas station. My house plug is always open.

range - if you drive more than 200km a day you should burn biofuel or take a serious look at your lifestyle (move closer to work). As the price of batteries comes down so the range of the cars will go up.

longevity - there are multiple batteries/ultracaps now being tested that have lifetimes longer than the car (firefly,altair,eestore).

Cold weather - I used to live in Yellowknife where it hovered arround -40 for long periods of time ... we used battery blankets. (actually we walked most of the time)

fuel cell prices are still stratespheric.

making the hydrogen in a efficient and clean manner is a larger problem than storage in my opinion.

Actually piz, I doubt very much we live in the same country (look up Yellowknife).

OK, same continent, Mr. Picky. ;) Still the same difference -- car-dependent, overconsuming, developed economies.

But lets look at who makes the BEVs and FCVs. The only FCVs out there are built by big companies with huge budgets. BEVs can be built in anyones garage.

That's sort of true. What's making the difference for Tesla is how well they're capitalized. Aside from the aesthetics (which are important, granted) they're not really doing too much different than the Tango in terms of price and performance. Crash testing costs alone make "garage project bootstrapping" essentially impossible. Many have tried that route and all have failed.

That tells me that what we have here is a race between the relatively easy to do vs. the massively funded. Only time will tell which one prevails. I'll be happy if either one can replace the fossil fuel ICE.

Seems to me that it's not going to be either/or. In the nearer term, HEVs are going to increase their battery capacity, which will bump their fuel mileage. Companies like Tesla are going to come in from the top end of the market and try to push down to more mass market vehicles. Diesels will start showing up with the BLUETEC vehicles and the new Honda technology, and if baseline oil prices stay high, some form of standardized biodiesel's going to take hold. Ethanol will continue to expand, especially in the Corn Belt, as long as it continues to get favorable CAFE rating treatment.

Meanwhile, there will be a whole host of non-automotive alternatives building up (some as demand-side reductions, others as technological alternatives like automated transit).

Hydrogen itself also has to be viewed in the context of how we get to a point of eventually relying solely on renewable energy. To get past the point of being a marginal, supplemental energy source, the mass storage problem is going to need to be solved (to deal with direct production fluctuations that occur because of wind, solar, and hydro variations - especially as the climate makes relatively rapid shifts that are difficult to predict).

It's all a fascinating process unfolding.

Speaking of different seating configuration the 2+1 Volvo electric concept car was pretty cool.

Piz ... I'll actually have to agree with your last post (most of it anyway)