Tesla’s Elon Musk: Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Vehicles Are ‘Silly’
DETROIT – Speaking in the Motor City on Tuesday, electric carmaker Tesla Motors’ co-founder and CEO Elon Musk again dismissed hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars as irrational, reported MLive. “I just think they’re extremely silly,” he told reporters at Automotive News’ annual World Congress. His comments came on the same day Honda Motor Co. showed off ... Read More »
DETROIT – Speaking in the Motor City on Tuesday, electric carmaker Tesla Motors’ co-founder and CEO Elon Musk again dismissed hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars as irrational, reported MLive.
“I just think they’re extremely silly,” he told reporters at Automotive News’ annual World Congress. His comments came on the same day Honda Motor Co. showed off its latest advancements in hydrogen fuel cell technology with its FCV concept at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. Toyota is also proudly displaying its production model, hydrogen fuel cell-powered Mirai at the show.
Musk argued that hydrogen acts as an energy storage unit, not a source of it, making it impractical for powering vehicles. He called drawing hydrogen from water “an extremely inefficient” process.
“If you’re going to pick an energy storage mechanism, hydrogen is just an extremely dumb one to pick,” Musk said.
He added, “The best-case hydrogen fuel cell case doesn’t win against the current-case batteries. So then obviously it doesn’t make sense. That will become apparent in the next few years. There’s no reason for us to have this debate. I’ve said my piece on this. It will be super obvious as time goes by.”
In addition to co-founding Tesla Motors, Musk, 43, helped launch and is currently the CEO of SpaceX, is chairman of SolarCity, and is a co-founder of PayPal.
He told reporters Tuesday that with Tesla he spends most of his time as an engineer and product architect.
More Industry

Nebraska Rooftop Changes Hands
The Gregg Young Automotive Group has sold its second dealership to Janssen Auto Group, both in Plattsmouth, Neb.
Read More →
Penske Auto Group Deal a Record
The deal to take the dealership and transportation services company private sets a new pace for industry buy-sell transactions.
Read More →
War Toll a Damper on Used Auto Prices
Cox Automotive found wholesale depreciation to be elevated in September amid high fuel prices and this year's unusual hurricane season.
Read More →
Bridge the Maintenance Gap
With many drivers missing recommended maintenance, service departments offering transparency and efficiency have a better chance of reaching financially strained consumers.
Read More →
California Store Has New Owner
The longtime dealership in the northern part of the state is known for robust fleet sales and has served the state capital for 115 years.
Read More →
BMW Plant Pursues Cleaner Energy
BMW Group Plant Leipzig has utilized hydrogen to help power its production since 2013, but a new pipeline is planned to take it to another level.
Read More →
Auto Affordability Inches Up
The latest Cox Automotive and Moody’s Analytics index shows a slight increase in new-vehicle affordability despite high prices.
Read More →
Ohio Auto Group Under New Ownership
After 79 years with the Schluter family, Mansfield Auto Group has been acquired by Missouri-based Clement Auto Group.
Read More →
RV Group Expands Carolina Footprint
Blue Compass RV Columbia Northeast is the 13th RV dealership owned by Blue Compass in the Carolinas.
Read More →
Agent Acumen
An Agent Summit panel of people who’ve been supporting auto dealers for years gave both timely and timeless advice for those starting out or mulling the prospect.
Read More →