FUEL CELLS on Boats - the solution to ENERGY STORAGE problems? | Ask The Expert with NIGEL CALDER

Boat-tech guru Nigel Calder talks about his experiences with various fuel cell projects and why this technology (unfortunately) won't solve our problems anytime soon.
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[@phanttomracer]

Agree with everything said in this video! However. the EFOY is a good fit for some boaters, like us. I need to run refrigeration (12v), no real estate on deck for solar (which does not work well at night!). Been running an EFOY 1600 for 7 seasons now. It works exactly as I need it to do. It is a Methanol powered battery charger. Charges my 7 year old Firefly batteries quite well when we are at anchor for extended periods of time and helps keep the refrigerator cold! Yes the fuel is crazy expensive and hard to get. I get a season or 2 out of 1 refill (works out to about $10/month, give or take). Bottom line for me, is I went fuel cell for the convenience of not having solar and for 24 hr charging, at a large financial cost. If my fuel cell dies, will be replacing it with a new one in a heartbeat! I do not disagree with anything said in the video. It was very accurate I, and many others, choose it for the convenience, and pay for it, literally! I feel, for most boaters, that a fuel cell would be excellent in addition to solar, or as a backup if solar can't keep up or breaks. The EFOY is quiet, easy to install, and fits a niche market of some of us cruisers. Thanks for putting up such great content!

[@BoatHowTo]

Thanks for sharing your experience! Indeed there are circumstances where fuel cells can be a great addition to a boat's energy mix (especially if cost is not an issue). Most average boaters however will be better off with a combination of solar and high-output alternators. But we would love to see more development in the area of fuel cells and the establishment of an infrastructure for renewable fuel sources. - Nigel & Jan

[@markburrows1025]

I have one of those Efoy fuel cell. Works great and its super quiet. It only makes 4 to 5 amps per hr, but can run over 100 hrs on 5 liters of fuel.

[@alibabaei1953]

I would pay massive amount of money if there was any natural gas fuel cell power generators available. where i live, cng fuel or natural gas is dirt cheap like 1 cent per kilogram. I don't care about efficiency. i just want that quietness it gives you. And offcourse, NO MOVING PARTS. imagine having a camper that has a virtually silent generator thats reliable, cheap to run, ellimination of expensive and impractical solar energy, can run an air conditioner silently not with a honda generator thats not silent.

[@brownnoise357]

Hi there. The massive inescapble problem with Hydrogen as a commonly available Fuel, that nobody is Talking about is - Hydrogen is a Bigh Explosive, that doesnt even need complex detonators to set it off, and only a Spark will detonate it, so it is a tially far more dangerous than Nitro Glycerine to have around with easy access to it 🤔 So how many of you would like to live in a Socirty with easy access to Hydrogen, and the first requirement for a Hydrogen Society is that there isveasy access to it ? Personally, Thanks But No Thank You. Bob.👍