A group of 120 scientists, engineers and academics have written an open letter to the organizers of the Paris Olympics calling on them to drop the Toyota Mirai as the Games’ official car, saying the hydrogen-powered car is damaging the event’s green reputation.
Almost all hydrogen today (99%) is obtained from fossil fuels, so the global hydrogen market has almost the same emissions as the aviation industry, scientists claim, adding that green hydrogen vehicles require three times more renewable energy than battery-powered electric vehicles.
That’s why they are asking that these cars, and the plan is 500 Mirai cars and 10 hydrogen buses, be replaced by battery-powered electric vehicles.
– We are concerned because Toyota is promoting a hydrogen car that is not scientifically aligned with zero emission goals. There is still time to change this, and we urge you to demand that Toyota replace the Mirai with a battery-electric model as the official vehicle of the Games – urged the authors of the letter, who include scientists and engineers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University in Colorado.
Scientists remind us that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) clearly states that battery-powered electric vehicles represent the most efficient way to decarbonize passenger transport. As they say, due to high costs and poor availability of fuel, hydrogen car sales are rapidly declining worldwide.
– There are approximately 1,000 times more battery electric vehicles than hydrogen vehicles in the world, and consumers overwhelmingly choose battery electric vehicles as a more attractive option. The limited hydrogen refueling infrastructure available in some countries is rapidly diminishing due to high fuel costs, high maintenance costs of hydrogen delivery equipment, and a lack of hydrogen supply. This is the case in California, Great Britain and Denmark – the scientists write, reminding that the infrastructure for charging electric vehicles is much more available in each country, and that the promotion of hydrogen vehicles at the Olympics will inevitably delay the introduction of battery electric vehicles, which will undermine progress in the energy sector. transition.
E2 portal
Source: www.e2.rs
