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Toyota

Toyota to launch zero-emissions hydrogen powered car next year

The car is said to reach a top speed of 160kph and takes between three to five minutes to charge.

TOYOTA PLANS TO  release a emission-free car that runs on hydrogen fuel-cells next year.

The FCV concept, which is expected to launch in 2015, is said to deliver a driving range of 482 kms, and can reach a top speed of 160 kph.

As the car uses hydrogen fuel-cells, it only produces water vapour.

Unveiling the concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company said that refuelling the car will take between three to five minutes.

The vehicle will be launched initially in California, where Toyota has been working with the University of California to map out potential locations for hydrogen fuelling stations.

Toyota’s senior vice president of sales, Bob Carter, called it the “car of the future” and said that cost and an infrastructure for refuelling will determine its success.

The first is building the vehicle at a reasonable price for many people. The second is doing what we can to help kick-start the construction of convenient hydrogen refueling infrastructure. We’re doing a good job with both and we will launch in 2015.

California has approved more than $200 million in funding to help build refuelling stations across the state, starting off with 20 new stations for next year.

It’s estimated that the vehicle will cost between $50,000 to $100,000 when it goes on sale.

Read: Audi reveals 10.2 inch Android tablet that integrates with your car >

Read: 54 million self-driving cars to be on the roads by 2035 >

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68 Comments
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    Mute ƒR()§†H@X
    Favourite ƒR()§†H@X
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    Jan 8th 2014, 3:53 PM

    Hydrogen Tax being introduced from 2015 onwards

    261
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    Mute Dee4
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:14 PM

    Hydrogen laundering commences in border areas 2016

    203
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:54 PM

    Monaghan /south Armagh destroyed by hydrogen detonation…. Late 2016.

    132
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    Mute Dee4
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:06 PM

    ;-)

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    Mute Diarmuid O'Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:10 PM

    1st cash for hydrogen store opens in conjunction with massive tv campaign, as the market price skyrockets in 2017.

    35
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    Mute Niall Connolly
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    Jan 8th 2014, 3:25 PM

    Hydrogen will always be the fuel of the future

    159
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    Mute Conor Murphy
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:44 PM

    It’s vastly more complicated than electric to implement.

    THe real solution for the next 30~ years is absolutely electric. Car makers are launching cars that have a small battery that can only go 20~30 miles, but have a normal petrol engine to backup. Since the vast vast majority of journeys are sub 30 miles if we put charging stations everywhere we can get cheap electric cars very very soon that take car of the vast majority of our journeys with 0 range anxiety.

    18
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 6:04 PM

    There is not enough lithium on this planet to replace a fraction of the fleet of vehicles.

    53
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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Jan 8th 2014, 9:26 PM

    Electric powered cars are absolutely NOT the future!! Its all well and good saying that most journeys are below the capacity of current batteries but you are screwed if you need to go further in an emergency. We are already atcapacity in this country so if most people switch to electric cars where do they think the massive amounts of electricity needed to charge them is going to come from?? And anyway most electricity is generated by fossil fuel burning generating stations! So you will not be saving the environment by buying electric cars. Hydrogen is the future of the motor vehicle!!!

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    Mute Michael
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    Jan 8th 2014, 10:05 PM

    Our sun can only produce one element – hydrogen, i think thats why its so abundant,
    supposedly Henry ford invented a car that didn’t run off petrol but it didnt materialize due to the Americans fascination with oil!

    9
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    Mute Conor Murphy
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    Jan 8th 2014, 11:08 PM

    @Mark
    - There’s no way you act read my comment. I addressed range anxiety quite easily, it’s not a huge issue.
    - How do you think hydrogen is produced? Still requires massive amounts of fossil fuels.
    - Using a smart Grid it’s relatively easy to balance load to use more renewables. Some interesting ideas knocking around about that one.

    @Mitch that is a true problem currently. However Lithium ion batteries will probably be taken over by other types in 10-15 years!

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    Mute Kevin Carroll
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    Jan 9th 2014, 12:13 AM

    And where does the electricity come from?

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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Jan 9th 2014, 12:21 PM

    @conor. Believe it or not i did read your comment. You may have addressed range anxiety but it made no sense really!! In an emergency how does having charging stations everywhere alleviate range anxiety? It takes up to 15 hours to charge a current electric car battery. Even with research into faster charging batteries they are hoped to reduce this time to one hour, still not enough in an emergency. Would you like an electric ambulance to be responding to an emergency you were involved in? I am well aware of the difficulties of making hydrogen also. But if a easy say of making/sourcing hydrogen is found it is still way more viable than electric powered vehicles. And as for smart grids? They can be as smart as they want but if most people drove electric cars and had to charge them at the same time we dont have capacity to handle this. And renewable energy at the moment will not go close to providing what would be needed especially wind turbines, but thats another debate altogether!!!

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    Mute Conor Murphy
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    Jan 9th 2014, 1:46 PM

    ” a normal petrol engine to backup” So it’s just your current car with a small battery added on. There, range anxiety done while still being electric for 90~% of your journeys.

    IF they can easily produce hydrogen, IF. it’s a pretty similar if as to IF we can suddenly find an easy way to produce all electricity…

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    Mute James Delaney
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    Jan 9th 2014, 4:56 PM

    Michael heard Henry Ford story b4. Also heard of car running on water &was supposed to b assassinated by Oil magnates
    Are these Stories Myph ?

    1
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    Mute Brendan Harlowe
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:25 PM

    The highest level of pollution in motoring comes from the manufacturing of the car! Want to really help the environment ? Drive your car for as long as possible !

    92
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:55 PM

    True dat.

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    Mute Andrew Weir
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    Jan 8th 2014, 9:35 PM

    So true Brendan, had a good laugh at the gobsh1tes a few years ago spending thousands to buy “eco friendly” small cars with “low” road tax thinking they were saving money/saving the planet.

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    Mute Will Hourihan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:58 PM

    The roads will be in glass every winter from all the water emissions.

    76
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    Mute Dylan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:11 PM

    is it possible to make an environmentally friendly car that doesn’t look like its just been rolled off the stage from the last lady gaga concert? how the hell do they expect them to catch on when they all look so needlessly gaudy and stupid.

    68
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    Mute Con Kearney
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:39 PM

    It’s a Concept car, they all look a bit crazy. When it goes on sale the looks will be dumbed down.

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    Mute Dylan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:53 PM

    that may be true but for something as groundbreaking as changing from solid fuels to hydrogen cells in cars you’d think they’d make an effort to make them look as normal and accessible as possible, the last thing they need is for this to be seen as some sort of gimmick and not catch on

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    Mute Diarmuid O'Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:11 PM

    When it hits the market it’ll be as dull as any Prius.

    9
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    Mute Joseph Siddall
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    Jan 8th 2014, 7:41 PM

    Dylan, the Honda Clarity FCX looks pretty normal……and it actually works.

    http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/

    3
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 3:27 PM

    Move over lithium (not that you had a future anyway).

    51
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    Mute Brian Sweeney
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:58 PM

    Hydrogen fuel cells for cars have been around since the 70′s, they were to be the fuel of the future then, and were quite close to being implemented. Then the oil giants and their friends in the u.s government decide they’d rather their fuel be used, and companies were bought up and plans disappeared, along with some convenient “suicides” of inventors.

    Electric care are the biggest con of the last 20 years. Where do you get electricity? Oh that’s right, from burning fossil fuels! “Zero emissions” cars that run on electricity are a joke, they create more pollution than a modern Diesel engine.

    Now I’m not a climate change hippy, in fact I’m the opposite, I don’t buy into the whole man made climate change spin, but what I am against is state sponsored spin trying to get people into useless electric cars.

    Roll on hydrogen fuel cells that will actually be zero emissions and will not take 8-12 hours to charge between journeys!

    24
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    Mute John Supple
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    Jan 8th 2014, 7:02 PM

    Stanley Myers was killed because he had a regular car that he converted to run on water !

    6
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    Mute Ratty Mcfatty
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    Jan 8th 2014, 3:30 PM

    Expect Toyota plants all over the world to be bombed….

    NEWS FLASH…………

    Those evil bstards Al qeada have infiltrated all toyota plants, it is the rightful duty of Amerikaw to defend democracy and civil rights, we must stop the zero emissions terrorists.

    We give the terrorists 24 hours to bring back the smog or we will destroy them.

    17
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    Mute steven callaghan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:00 PM

    I dont care how good it is id never give up my 7 series bmw. should be good for the peasants like patricia ann mccarthy moore

    14
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    Mute Diarmuid O'Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:13 PM

    Compensating for something ?

    20
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    Mute steven callaghan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:26 PM

    Diarmuid just give me green thumb and hush up!!!

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    Mute Kevin Murnaghan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:34 PM

    They made a hydrogen 7 a few years back…

    4
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:37 PM

    Is is a 716i (cloth seat edition)?

    4
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    Mute Kevin Murnaghan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:47 PM

    Far from it, was top of line 6 litre v12 that could run on petrol or hydrogen. 200km range for hydrogen only… But shows what is possible. Now in the museum Munich. Some of the big manufacturers have put billions into electric cars with a minimal return as yet. They won’t continue to. Think of the North American Nissan Leaf owners in the current weather – I wonder what the range of an electric car is at -30C, if the electrons will move at all?!

    5
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    Mute steven callaghan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:54 PM

    8 speed shiftable automatic 3 litre in line v6 and and extra loud horn to blast patricia ann maccarthy and her peasants off the road when there begging and bitching about bondholder. (my people)

    5
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 6:05 PM

    Aah…. Just a v6.

    That’s ok for some I suppose.

    9
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    Mute steven callaghan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 6:14 PM

    what do you mean mitch??????
    v6 as fast as any v8. a v8 is only needed in america cos there cars are underpowered.
    Mine has top of the range AC so i dont have the smell of poor people and peasants like patricia.

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    Mute Mjhint
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    Jan 8th 2014, 6:33 PM

    Steve bmw don’t make v6s. you contradicted yourself. it can’t be a v6 inline. its one or the other.

    22
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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Jan 8th 2014, 9:32 PM

    Good man mjhint i love it when tolls are found out :)

    7
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    Mute Andrew Weir
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    Jan 8th 2014, 9:40 PM

    Nice car but still the base model

    2
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    Mute See My Vest
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    Jan 8th 2014, 10:00 PM

    I bet Steve drives a punto.

    5
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    Mute steven callaghan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 11:27 PM

    shut up i hate you all. really i do I HATE YOU ALL

    4
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    Mute John Ruane
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    Jan 8th 2014, 11:29 PM

    The mollecular capacity from the synonymous combustion of refactoring electrodes in a capacitator is highly innocuous to the exculpatory reactionary forces of nucleotide atomical ranges

    5
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    Mute Johnny C
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:18 PM

    That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a car that actually looks like it’s vomiting

    13
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    Mute Peter Mullan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 3:27 PM

    Wonder will it come in an awful silvery/champagne colour and be very reasonably priced and really reliable cos it’s a Toyota don’t you know

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    Mute Ratty Mcfatty
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    Jan 8th 2014, 3:31 PM

    US drones are being programmed as we speak…………….

    6
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    Mute Alan Phillips
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    Jan 8th 2014, 6:45 PM

    Anyone for the last few petrol cars? €20 quid each but €1000 road tax! That’s government for you!

    10
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    Mute John Dobermann
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:08 PM

    We better get that Oil we own out of the ground fast or it’ll be worthless.

    8
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    Mute juuge
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:49 PM

    How are Toyota allowed to say they are ‘the best built cars in the world’?

    8
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:58 PM

    Cos its hardly objective.

    Toyotas have been made by Peugeot for some time now.
    There is no point paying a premium for the toyota brand.

    3
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    Mute Fen
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    Jan 8th 2014, 10:59 PM

    Electric cars are a pipe dream. No country in the world makes enough electricity to suddenly charge every car, most struggle to deal with everyone flipping their kettle on at the same time during a world cup.

    Hydrogen is a world solution, electric and batteries are an off grid eco solution, that does not scale to global proportions. Even places like America and Germany are trying to scale back their nuclear plants and electricity production.

    Hydrogen fits our lives better, hydrogen is a byproduct in a lot of processes, and hydrogen can be made with solar or tidal electricity, both of which cant scale to cope with 4 million cars being plugged in at same time, but can run and produce hydrogen ready for delivery to refill stations and get them stocked up well.

    6
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    Mute Joe Reid
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    Jan 8th 2014, 7:54 PM

    The Honda Clarity hydrogen powered car has been on sale in the states since 2008. Toyota are way behind if this is their first.

    6
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    Mute Timmay Timeo
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:08 PM

    Presumably the initial Californian models will be the Nagasaki and the deluxe version Hiroshima.

    5
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    Mute Timmay Timeo
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:12 PM

    Slogan “bomb around town, guilt free”

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    Mute Robert Moore
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    Jan 8th 2014, 9:54 PM

    Does it come with a towbar?

    3
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    Mute simon o flaherty
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    Jan 8th 2014, 4:14 PM

    So this will produce water from the exhaust like the hy-wire did me wonders?

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    Mute simon o flaherty
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    Jan 8th 2014, 6:02 PM

    No one remembers 2002 so. The hy-wire was a fantastic concept car which could have powered your house but sure who wants that?

    5
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    Mute John Pepper
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:42 PM

    Don’t these cars emit water??? Thought I read somewhere that water vapour was more of a green house gas than co2 or even methane. Just wandering does anyone know if this is true?

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    Mute Conor Murphy
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    Jan 8th 2014, 5:45 PM

    That’s pretty defo not true, do you know how I know? Clouds…

    21
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    Mute John Pepper
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    Jan 8th 2014, 8:38 PM

    Cool but how come its warmer at night when it’s cloudy. Thought the clouds trapped the heat?

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    Mute John Pepper
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    Jan 8th 2014, 8:42 PM
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    Mute John Pepper
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    Jan 8th 2014, 8:45 PM
    1
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    Mute John Pepper
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    Jan 8th 2014, 8:48 PM

    @ Conor. Burn lol. Anything else you think you defo know?

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    Mute Eoin Ryan
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    Jan 8th 2014, 11:01 PM

    John, you might have missed the point of the skeptic science page you linked. Water vapour in the atmosphere isn’t a huge concern because of its short life.

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    Mute Conor Murphy
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    Jan 8th 2014, 11:13 PM

    @John Sadly it looks like we’re both equally wrong. Clouds are actually tiny water droplets. Water vapor is invisible. My fault. Though as @Eoin points out. Your link does “disprove” the water vapor thang.

    Really it looks like water +CO2 together thats the issue. Anyhoos

    2
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    Mute John Pepper
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    Jan 8th 2014, 11:17 PM

    Yeah I know. Never said it was a bad thing. Just asked was it more of a green house gas than co2 or methane. Obviously we need some amount of green house gasses because it would be pretty darn chilly here otherwise.

    I must come clean and apologize but I asked a question that I already knew the answer too. Just wanted to see what kind of response I got.

    3
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    Mute John Pepper
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    Jan 8th 2014, 11:31 PM

    Sorry for being a kock. Had a stressful 12 hour shift in work and turned to the journal as my stress ball. The comments to give me a giggle. No hard feelings. :-)

    6
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