Hydrogen vehicles have been just around the corner since the early 1970s, but a new chart by fuel cell fan Bruce Lin shows that the “countless promises from automaker executives” have failed to deliver a mass-market vehicle.
“Ever since the first Arab Oil Crisis sent gas prices skyrocketing in the early 1970s, automakers have paid platitudes to government officials and environmentalists demanding a better alternative to petrol,” CleanTechnica notes. “Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have long been touted as a replacement for petrol cars.”
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But all the promises—from GM and Daimler, Honda and Toyota, the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory, and many others—have come up short.
“Failed predictions from automakers are nothing new, especially when it comes to hydrogen fuel cells,” DeMorro writes. “So just keep that in mind next time a suit from a major automaker tries to convince you that hydrogen, the ‘fuel of the future,’ is just a few more years away from mass acceptance. That alibi don’t fly no more.”
