@ dursun: No, that was Heinkel that made the He-111 bomber.

For the portion of the market that is able to charge at home, the ability to begin each day with a "full tank" is a non-monetary reward which also needs to be factored in. But I basically agree with Davemart and AndrewsRobert's objections; this study seemed to select the EV (Nissan Leaf) with the worst depreciation in order to skew the results.

No kidding. Dealerships , in the US and elsewhere, rely on income from service departments, and EVs require much less service than ICE vehicles.

Looks like Tesla is driving innovation as expected. Great to see it!

Many people used to be able to afford to stay in Austin without a good paying job, at least in the 1980s when I went to school there. The "lifestyle premium" was worth the cost in wages and career prospects. I don't think that's true now.

What a futile, horrible thing to do.

Lexus just bores me to tears. Think I'll go back to sleep now.

Lad, I agree with you. This seems to add needless complexity.

I sure hope this works. I think the breakneck pace of innovation in smartphones has spoiled us as far as the speed of innovation goes.

I agree with SJC. Anything that a) improves mileage and b) reduces cost, and c) reduces emissions is OK with me.

*If more speed is needed*, the customer can choose a higher top speed, up to 75 mph. That sort of speed would be perfectly adequate for any urban area in the States, let alone the crowded more compact urban areas of Continental Europe

I could have told you that. Anecdotal evidence indicates that many dealers of ICE vehicles have clueless sales people, yet are protected by state franchising laws.

HAR! Boondoggle alert!

I agree with mahonj's analysis and I also propose a trigger number of ~55%.

My view is that it can represent either: a) a technological lodestar to guide other manufacturers towards an ideal; or b) a dead end. I give a) 75% odds and b) 25%.

I believe some thanks go to Tesla for inspiring (or forcing?) innovation in charging stations.

Great points by Thomas Pedersen. I'd add anecdotally that there are many houses in Houston that are low-efficiency because they are old homes without insulation and with a lot of air leaks, etc. I am hoping that homeowners will choose to exploit the insurance for rebuilding after the hurricane to put in more efficient A/C and heating systems. Some of the affected houses were fairly large (2500+ square ft.) and not new (built ca. 1965) and could save a lot of energy in a remodel job.

Agree with mahonj that $89K is hideously expensive. For that price you'd think they'd throw the van in the deal.

I wish there was a diagram of what they're trying to do. Labeled photos of laboratory Stirling engines don't exactly give me the idea that this is coming anytime soon enough to matter.

The transition Rick Perry made from wind advocate (Texas has a lot of wind generation in addition to oil and gas) to coal subsidies was as disappointing as it was expected. We are being run into the ground by a madman.

Man. you guys are harsh on ECI. My opinion is that he's much less irritating than gorr.

@mahonj: Ordinarily the oil industry has no problem; it's fairly "globalized." The problem would be getting the workers in, as the USA has been thrown into full-on protectionism mode with the new rentier administration that seems determined to maximize personal profits.

I honestly think there will be battery advances way before these fuel cells can hit the market and make a sufficient impact. The year 2025 is light-years behind improved batteries IMO. Then again, I may be wrong.

This seems like common sense to me, but (some) skeptics may need more validation of costs versus benefits, etc.

SkyMine, a (fairly) recent startup in Texas, does this with flue gas from an existing coal-powered plant, but it's great to capture it straight from the air as they seem to be doing here.