By any goal measure, and even in case you assist his insurance policies, Donald Trump isn’t match to be president. He’s too previous, his thoughts is gone, he’s scared to debate, he’s dodging interviews, and nothing he says makes any sense. Take, for instance, his present obsession with hydrogen automobiles blowing up his viewers. No, I don’t imply one thing insane that he mentioned as soon as. Trump retains mentioning hydrogen automobiles exploding, typically mentioning {that a} member of the viewers who could be unrecognizable after the explosion.
Now, earlier than we get too far, hydrogen fuel-cell autos aren’t the Hindenburg, and automakers design them with crash security in thoughts. It’s completely doable a hydrogen automotive has exploded someplace sooner or later, however the one instance I might discover was a latest story in regards to the Ukrainian navy deliberately turning the gas cell from a Toyota Mirai right into a bomb to kill Russian invaders hellbent on war-criming their means via the nation. It isn’t a difficulty within the U.S. and received’t be except MAGA crazies borrow a web page out of Ukraine’s playbook.
Precise examples of hydrogen explosions look like restricted to a truck transporting hydrogen gas in Delaware and a hydrogen fueling station explosion in Norway.
Like all stump speech, Trump repeats a number of of the identical strains each time he goes off on his anti-hydrogen rants. Amongst different nonsensical claims, he repeatedly calls hydrogen a brand new expertise. Even in case you can deliver your self to forgive that blatant Isaac de Rivaz erasure, what in regards to the far more latest GM Electrovan? Toyota’s work with the FCHV? Honda and the FCX? The Toyota Mirai? Hyundai’s Nexo? None of those are new and, extra importantly, none of them have really caught on. As a result of it’s a rubbish concept for passenger autos and can actually solely ever work for business trucking.
If the above video had simply been a one-off occasion, that might have been one factor. As a substitute, Trump has continued to journey across the nation speaking in regards to the risks of hydrogen automobiles. I used to be capable of finding at the least 5 extra cases the place he repeated almost an identical claims, proper all the way down to telling the viewers they’ll be unrecognizable in the event that they’re ever in a hydrogen-powered automotive when it explodes. They’re additionally all so comparable that there actually isn’t a lot of some extent in embedding all of them.
Why precisely Trump has determined to make hydrogen fuel-cells enemy primary, proper up there with different Individuals who disagree with him, nobody can say for certain. If I needed to guess, it most likely as a result of Tesla CEO Elon Musk appointed himself Brown-Noser-in-Chief, and so they don’t wish to do something to threat chopping off the circulation of these Elon Bucks. In a number of of the clips, you’ll be able to see him begin to trash EVs, solely to pivot to how unhealthy hydrogen is. Was it one thing Musk mentioned? Was it one thing a staffer put in entrance of Trump to distract him from EVs, and now they will’t make him cease? Odds are, nobody will ever know till some entry journalist writes one other ebook.
Lastly, earlier than the White Knights of Hydrogen present up in pressure to yell at me for dismissing the expertise of the longer term, check out how refueling a Hyundai Nexo went for our mates on the Smoking Tire. If it nonetheless solely kind of barely works in LA, how does anybody severely assume we’ll have the ability to roll this out nationally? Yeah, not occurring.
