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Comment by gernb | Hacker News Reader

I've gotten used to the idea that it seems like if I get a solar roof and power system that I can charge my electric car during the zombie apocalypse, where as AFAIK, I can't easily create gasoline or enough hydrogen for a hydrogen powered car.

Right?

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You need a lot of solar to charge a vehicle but it is attainable.

You'd be better off with something like a M35A2 with the multi-fuel engine for actual apocalypse, because that thing can burn damn near anything you can find (you could run it for years on engine oil drained from mad-max style hulks). Someone may have even modified one to run on LPG also.

My roof (North California, 11 kW system) usually produces more than my driving consumes. Have been running this for a near-decade. Totally doable. I'd still love to get my PV system separated from PG&E's grabby hands but I'm not sure that's legal.

Anyway all fuel cell vehicles are series-hybrid system, so solar power can be charged to the battery. Battery is small but also PV surface is small.

Hydrogen is simple to produce if you have access to water and electricity. Gasoline is much harder to do, though.

Yes but in quantities I can use the drive my car?

You also have to compress it to very high pressures to be able to store a useful amount of it.

If it's simple, why practically no one is doing it?

Last I heard, 99% of all H2 was produced out of methane. Perhaps it's a bit better now?

No, it's not. Electrolysis is extremely inefficient. There are some modern developments with advanced catalysts, but it's not something an average person can do.

Hydrogen can be created using electricity and water. Who will create a new battery once yours dies out?

That battery will last longer than the catalysts in your hydrogen production system.

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