Question about Fuel Cells and Alternative Fuels?

Question

If we went to an alternative fuel of specifically a fuel cell that uses water, how would the govenment tax it to pay for roads and what not? Where I live, the cost of off road diesel $1.00 less per gallon because it isn't taxed. How would the government make that money up if we could just go to any water source and fill up? How will the make up the hundreds of millions of dollars they'd lose? I don't think a dollar per gallon tax on water would work because its also a neccessity to live. Do you think not being able to get around the tax issues has limited the governments involvement in finding alternative fuels? I know theres been government fuel cell projects going on since the 80s, but its hard to believe nothing practical has come out of it yet.

Answer 1

Fuel cells do not use water, they make water from hydrogen gas or a hydrocarbon. Those fuels can be taxed as easily as any currently popular fuel.

Answer 2

I think the government will start taxing it when it gets popular enough to make a real economic impact.

there is a technical problem with current fuel cells
there is only enough platinum in the world to make every car in the USA run on fuel cells for one year, so that is what is stopping that, we need a totally new technology to be able to have fuel cells get popular.

the alternative fuel thing is different.
it takes energy to make fuel, you can get it from the sun, but the fuel we get from the ground has so much energy when compared to anything else out there, and people use a ridiculous amount of it.
people use so much energy right now that you really can't get it from anything else we know of.
we need to change our cities, our country and our life styles before the alternative energy thing will work,
gas will have to be 10 times what it is now before producing energy in any alternative form will be profitable at all, and as you can imagine, our current economy just can not support that.

the government knows all this and will not put money into something that has no chance of success with current technology unless they think it will help them politically.

take hydrogen as an example,
it just moves energy from one place to another, it is not an energy source, yet the politicians say that it will power our future, and they never put any real money into it because it is not an energy source and will never do what they say it will.

Answer 3

In most states each vehicle is taxed by it's weight. Right now that's 'relatively' low because of the additional revenue from fuel taxes which is supposedly relative to the miles driven.

However, when it's difficult to tax the fuel then there will be a proportionate increase in the tax by weight, which seems reasonable since fuel consumption is relative to vehicle weight.

I wouldn't count on or worry about fueling your car with water any time soon. Plug-in battery electrics with lead-acid batteries are available now and will be much more common long before fuel cells become practicle. I would expect that someone will develop a "fuel cell" to replace our current batteries rather than a vehicle you pour water into.

Answer 4

I believe that is a big part of it. Of course, the way around it is to tax the fuel cell itself rather than the fuel. The problem there is that it would make it cost prohibitive to buy the vehicle.

Answer 5

Hydrogen production instruments that should furnish in basic terms fantastic for a single gas station have been built that run off of the flexibility grid and convert water to hydrogen that artwork in basic terms fantastic. they do no longer require fossil gas. there are various the form to generate electrical energy. that's an area that desires artwork. surprisingly sufficient water remains the ideal source for hydrogen. Reforming it from oil leads to song quantities of carbon monoxide being left interior the hydrogen gas. That leads to quicker distruction of the gas cellular's fagile membrane that generates electrical energy. this is the important difficulty battling hydrogen gas cells precise now. that's purer, yet extra costly to get it from water.