Shell Is Immediately Closing All Of Its California Hydrogen Stations | The oil giant is one of the big players in hydrogen globally, but even it can’t make its operations work here.::The oil giant is one of the big players in hydrogen globally, but even it can’t make its operations work here. All seven of its California stations will close immediately.

  • NoRodent@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I mean yeah, but on the other hand with hydrogen you have much more control over when and where you use the electricity as you can choose to manufacture most of it during off-peak periods and when renewables create excess energy. Then you can transport it by pipes or by trucks/ships without overwhelming the electric grid.

    • zurohki@aussie.zone
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      9 months ago

      You can do off-peak charging with EVs too, that’s not a magical hydrogen thing. My hot water system is on its own circuit which can be turned off by the power company whenever they need to cut demand, providers have been doing that sort of thing for decades.

      • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        So providers just prevent people from using what is potentially their only transportation option as it suits the power company?

        Hot water isn’t usually a survival need as long as you have liquid water available. Means of movement can be.

        • zurohki@aussie.zone
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          9 months ago

          They don’t just… leave it off. They turn it off for like 15 minutes in the middle of an 8 hour charging session. Nobody notices or cares.

        • gmtom@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          So providers just prevent people from using what is potentially their only transportation option as it suits the power company?

          No? Thats effectively the same thing as a gas station closing. You can go elsewhere to charge it.

      • nexusband@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        You can’t store the power in EVs for weeks and weeks and also you can’t move it around on a whim, without loosing that stored energy.

        • zurohki@aussie.zone
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          9 months ago

          What? Of course you can store power for weeks. It doesn’t just dribble out onto the floor. Go away for a month and come home, your EV is still sitting there with the battery charge whatever you left it on.

          Yes, EVs use their stored energy for driving… I’m not sure what your point was there. Do you think transporting hydrogen is free and doesn’t cost energy?

          • nexusband@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            No, it doesn’t dribble on the floored, but to keep the battery conditioned takes a lot of energy. There are countless post around all sorts of forums where the battery was empty after 2 weeks, because cooking the battery in the summer heat took a lot of energy. And you can’t leave an EV plugged in at the Airport.

            Transporting hydrogen is cheaper than having to rebuild a whole power grid.

            • jabjoe@feddit.uk
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              9 months ago

              You don’t need to rebuild the whole grid. The power over night goes up, but that’s OK because night is currently very low usage. Sometimes that has meant turning off renewables as there is no where to put the power. In fact, this can cause negative power costs were they will pay you to take power! So next is where you need it, say a charging forecourt. But that is only during the day, so put in some huge batteries you charge over night. Top up with day time renewables if you can. All this already happens.

            • zurohki@aussie.zone
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              9 months ago

              I’ve parked mine outside in the Australian summer. It didn’t magically lose energy. The battery is a dense insulated brick on the bottom of the vehicle, so it doesn’t really get hot enough to need cooling even when it’s 40C / 104F and you park in the sun.

              You can drain the battery in a few weeks, but you need something running like Sentry Mode consuming power.

        • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          So, let’s say I leave an EV at the airport, with 60% charge, battery in reasonable health, and return 2 months later and head home, having lost maybe 3%. You are telling me that’s…not doing exactly what you’re saying I can’t and didn’t just do?

          You don’t also immediately lose all the stored energy either. In a (hypothetical, future tyme) properly kitted out scenario, I leave my EV plugged in at the airport and it’s battery contributes to local grid storage while I’m away. So the 60% I arrived with might drop down during high load, but since my utility company has a handy app I can schedule when I need to unplug and ask for the charge percentage to be topped up in time.

          I might even not have to pay to park my car in that scenario, or potentially even earn credits back…

          • nexusband@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            You will not have lost 3%. You will have lost 30-40% - because no Airport has (and probably never will have) Parking, where you can leave your EV plugged in.

            • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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              9 months ago

              Explain to me what hypothetical means to you. Then re read my post and note where I point out the hypotheticals.

              And you definitely would not lose 30-40%. I’d meet at 8-10% but you are either inexperienced with the tech or shilling an agenda with that 30-40%.

              But what would me and my actual lived experience know right?

        • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          That’s more an issue with hydrogen than it is with EVs. Hydrogen is very leaky.