L4sBotFeb 11, 2024

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.

https://lemmy.world/post/11840366

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. - Lemmy.World

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.

Show threadAA5BFeb 11, 2024
Looking forward to the upcoming Toyota announcement that they believe in the future of hydrogen more than ever
Show threadjabathekekFeb 11, 2024
Toyota, and Japan as a whole, are in a tricky situation with their electric grid. It’s been developed separately by nine different companies in each region; the southern regions use 60 Hz supply cycles, where-as the northern regions (including Tokyo Electric) use 50 Hz. Add to this the populations reluctance for nuclear power after Fukushima, and you get a very fragile supply grid with limited capacity. Toyota is gunning hard for Hydrogen because Japan itself can’t support EVs and for some reason it doesn’t want to/can’t manufacture both.
Reforming Japan’s Electricity System

As part of the process of formulating a new set of basic principles for the nation’s energy policy, an Advisor…

nippon.com
Show threadzurohkiFeb 11, 2024
Okay, but if they don’t have the electricity for EVs they definitely don’t have enough electricity to waste 2/3 of it turning it into hydrogen and back.
Show threadNoRodentFeb 11, 2024
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.
Show threadzurohkiFeb 11, 2024
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.
Show threadwizardbeard

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.

Feb 12, 2024 at 12:39amWeb
Show threadzurohkiFeb 12, 2024
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.
Show threadgmtomFeb 12, 2024

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.