What is the energy cost of the release of Hydrogen from one form to that which will go into the cells? I am betting it takes more energy from oil, gas or coal that it provides in energy.

Don't be a naysayer, most of our energy technologies are a zero sum gain or worse, but this may be less polluting than coal, oil or gas. China is poised to become a technology leader, that's essentially the Xi plan

What is the energy cost of the release of Hydrogen from one form to that which will go into the cells? I am betting it takes more energy from oil, gas or coal that it provides in energy.

We are entering a new era of plentiful renewable energy. This kind of thinking was necessary with oil at $60,70 80 per barrel. But this is a new day with new realities.

The New Paradigm:

LA Times 6/22/2017: California invested heavily in solar power. Now there’s so much that other states are sometimes paid to take it

On 14 days during March, Arizona utilities got a gift from California: free solar power.

Well, actually better than free. California produced so much solar power on those days that it paid Arizona to take excess electricity its residents weren’t using to avoid overloading its own power lines… http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-electricity-solar/

This is a brilliant explanation from Europe, which is way ahead of the US in this field

Bjørn Simonsen, NEL Hydrogen (the company that built Denmark's nationwide network of renewable hydrogen stations):

The entire efficiency question loses importance with the energy regime we’re moving into. We’re coming from a mentality where we are used to thinking about energy as a limited resource. If you have a barrel of oil, it’s extremely important to use it efficiently. However, you can use it across several days or years. Whatever you don’t use one day, you still have it for the next day.

Whereas when we look at renewables, you have to use them when they’re there. We have to look at energy with new eyes. What matters is what does it cost? It’s not necessarily all about the total efficiency. Prices are low enough to make hydrogen and distribute it to fueling stations at costs that are comparable to what we’re used to today with gasoline and diesel.

If you charge your car from your rooftop solar at home, it’s obviously more efficient than converting it to hydrogen first, but you won’t see people driving their electric vehicles to a solar farm far from their homes to charge whenever it’s really nice and sunny outside. That is why the two technologies will live side by side and complement each other...more https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/08/30/future-pv-the-feasibility-of-solar-powered-hydrogen-production/

It could have been the US leading this energy revolution but the US is spending every spare cent bombing and invading lands 8,000 miles away.

Very few people in the US are even aware that there are fuel cell cars driving around southern California right now. Ask around, you'll see.

This would have been huge news after the first or second Arab oil embargo, but now- the media is, for the most part, totally ignoring the story.

China took our solar tech and ran with it, dropping the worldwide prices for solar by ~80%. Now they are going to do the same with fuel cells.

Yet there are no protests by Americans that are watching their treasury raided by the most despicable scum to ever walk the earth to "fight terrorists". It's as if many people in the US aren't aware of the fact that there are oceans on either side of the continent.

On October 23, Toyota will begin operation of the first hydrogen fuel cell drayage truck around the Port of Los Angeles. They beat Tesla to emission free trucking- by a mile and a half.

Search "Toyota Project Portal" for more

If it takes 1 gallon of petro fuel to make the equivalent amount of hydrogen, it is no different than burning petroleum. I suspect it takes 2 gallons of gas to make as much hydrogen that can get you 25 miles down the road. The road that if you had put 2 gallons in the car, you could go 50-70 miles down.

Hydrogen will be great when you extract it from water, until then

If it takes 1 gallon of petro fuel to make the equivalent amount of hydrogen

Look at it another way-

It takes 50 kWh to make 1 Kilogram of hydrogen. That Kilogram can propel a Toyota Mirai or a Honda Clarity stuffed with 4 adults ~60 miles.

If the electricity is made from solar panels or wind power, the hydrogen is completely green and more importantly, totally domestically produced. No Arabs, no ships, no refineries, none of that stuff.

Hydrogen will be great when you extract it from water, until then

Then is now- see above

and this

"Fuel Cells are so bullshit" -- Elon "Enron" Musk, the guy that got fired from PayPal because he tried to replace Unix with Windows