veggie oil?? -->> Try Water ?, But wait! There's more !!!

[John Larson]

Fay wrote:  "If the government or auto manufacturers are telling
people it costs $4 million to drive a hydrogen car,
then they are plain liars!"

One would think, given the extensive practice they've had and the vast 
experience they have garnered over the years, they'd be more than just 
"plain liars".  Of course, one also has to consider that all that 
practice and experience hasn't made them any better at it.


Besides all that, the gross R&D/construction costs may well equal $4M 
per car for the number of cars they've produced, especially if they 
include basic infrastructure costs.  When the number of cars increases, 
the R&D costs per unit (but not the direct costs of producing an 
individual vehicle) go down.  If the costs of both R&D and actual 
construction were $60M, and they built 15 cars, then each vehicle really 
does cost $4M.  Unless you're Toyota and Honda and selling each hybrid 
at a net loss, SOMEBODY has to eat that developmental cost.  GM, for 
one, can't afford to do that, nor can Ford.

Another thing people forget, and it's a BIGGIE, is that it takes MORE 
energy to produce a unit of hydrogen motor fuel than you get back out, 
and they use fossil fuels to produce it.  Fossil fuels that produce MORE 
work when used as motor fuel.

John