Fuel cell bus in California destroyed after explosion during refuelling.

Engulfed in flames | Fuel cell bus in California destroyed after explosion during refuelling.

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It requires a free registration to the hydrogen website to read the entire thing. I signed up to read it; I'm easily amused.

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A technical point not covered in the article is that fuel cells generally have Nalfion solid phase electrolytes. Nalfion is a fluoropolymer, in the class of compounds known as persistent fluorinated organic substances, a rather large environmental problem that is growing pretty fast, but not quite as fast as extreme global heating, which hydrogen fantasies have done nothing to address. To be clear, many firefighting agents, fluorinated foaming agents, known as AFFF (aqueous film forming foam) were historically in this class of troublesome compounds, but it didn't seem to save the bus. Places where AFFF were used either to fight fires or for training fire fighters are permanently contaminated.

Despite fossil fuel "bait and switch" ads here and elsewhere pretending otherwise, there really aren't that many hydrogen buses in the world, but even in a small subset they're already blowing up. This is unsurprising given the low viscosity, low flammable limits and incompatibility with many metals - leading to metal failure and leaks - that hydrogen exhibits.

Hydrogen is not, despite much carrying on to the contrary which is regrettably well advertised but false, emission free. It is overwhelmingly made by the steam reforming of dangerous fossil fuels, accompanied by exergy destruction.