volt, rx8 are everything wrong with next-gen cars

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/07/22/volt-gm.html
D: This will be full sedan size. But as an electric, it really is only of use for short in-city commutes.
It is also very expensive.

http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_display.cfm?article_id=17134&make_id=227
The Mazda RX8/hydrogen also has a very limited range with hydrogen.
Its Renesis engine is promising. Sadly, they built a large version for sports cars/SUVs.
Placing a miniature version in a compact would have made sense.
The H2 doesn't have the range for anything but city car apps.

The future apparently involves a painless, if expensive, 'biz as usual' model.
Full sized cars that would feel at home in pre-oil crisis 1970s America.

The Renesis is particularly important since it is compact and light - appropriate to mount mid-body, which is useful for a quasi-trike layout (see yesterday).

There IS a proof-of-concept cyro/high-pressure H2 tank.
https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2008/NR-08-06-02.html
D: but keep in mind the Trishield 5000psi costs $5000.
I am curious what the price could be with proper economies of scale.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5325/is_200202/ai_n21308637

D: note that a H2 tank able to handle long road trips necessarily will occupy the entire trunk or back seat. Allowing for cargo and luggage, what I'm saying is it cannot be a 4-5 adult passenger system in any practical fashion. Sorry. I'd like H2 to be a silver bullet as much as the next guy, but the facts just don't add up to that.

I kept running into know-it-alls that read a single book on the subject - "The Hydrogen Economy".
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrogen-Economy-Jeremy-Rifkin/dp/1585422541/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216742979&sr=8-1
They all proved hopelessly naive.
They didn't consider that without onboard O2 (impractical- see the size of that tank!!!), a H2 combustion engine still produces 1/3 the Nox.
The VOLUME required to store H2 was lost on them.
The off-gassing of H2 if cryo was also.
The losses, from feedstock to H2 gas to cryo gas (or even single OR dual stage compressor for gas) are staggering!
Combined with the 'box on wheels' able to hold 5 adults exemplified by the Volt and RX8, this would be disaster. It would simply consume all remaining coal very fast.
Without next-gen clean coal, it is bad on every count.
Aside: since India, China AND the USA are all building relatively old-school coal plants which are not cheap or effectively upgraded to clean coal tech (with 90% co2 retention), the CO2 cap is already lost. I'm just extrapolating a world with 18% o2/ 1000pm CO2 when the dust settles.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/26/MNGKVBHHQ51.DTL
The USA wants to help China clean up its act? Physician, heal thyself!
http://www.saskpower.com/cleancoal/index.html
D: since USA generates 50% of its energy from coal, and H2 and electricity will both likely be derived from coal, where ever coal plants go, so too all the 'clean' energy storage methods.
Then.... we plop it in a big vehicle design.