Question

Are BEVs or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles a more promising transportation technology for the future? (This is question #3 from p. 608.)
Should car companies be required to produce electric cars?

Answer 1

This is an opinion question. Do you want our opinion?

Answer 2

yes

Answer 3

In my opinion BEV's are promising, but the energy we produce to charge those cars are still provided by coal-burning power plants, meaning it's still not really a clean solution. If in the future we could convert 100% to nuclear and renewable energy (extremely unlikely within any reasonable amount of time), then BEV's would be a good option, though I doubt we could ever create batteries more efficient volume-wise than a hydrogen fuel cell.

If we're thinking far-future, then hydrogen fuel cells will probably be more useful in rugged (extra-terrestrial) environments where extreme fuel density is necessary, along with the fact that hydrogen is generally easier to obtain than charging electric batteries. For example, colonies on Mars may use hydrogen fuel cells to power their vehicles, since hydrogen can be obtained from the H20 which is frozen at the poles on Mars.

Answer 4

Whether or not to force companies to build electric cars starts dabbling too far into politics, and I really don't feel like getting into that right now. That's your opinion!