Reply #49: An example: the lowly tanker truck

[hatrack]

An average gas station along a busy interstate or federal highway will sell, on average, about 25 tons of gasoline a day. Currently, this demand can be met by one trip by one 40-ton tanker truck.

Now, consider hydrogen. Given the extremely high pressures at which hydrogen would have to be confined, most of the truck's weight, whether loaded or empty, would consist of the containment system(s), yielding a truck able to transport about a ton of compressed hydrogen, give or take.

If you're talking about the concept of simply "replacing" oil with hydrogen, consider what this simple fact means. Consider the number of fuel trucks it implies will be necessary. Multiply by 25 (give or take) the number of tanker trucks on the road, and don't forget that each truck will demand fuel, lubricants and energy/resources for their construction.

Liquid hydrogen? Well, maybe, assuming that the BP or Amoco station on the corner has the capacity and electric/cryogenic capability to do what only NASA has any record of doing on a really large scale in the United States.