Modern Vespa

Yes, we have LPG powered busses and garbage trucks here, new ones, very spiffy. But LPG is a liquid fuel. That's what the "L" in LPG is for. Liquified Petroleum Gas (mostly propane). It liquifies , at environmental temperatures, at fairly low pressures. (Think your gas grill cylinder) Hydrogen won't liquify at normal environmental temperatures so it must be stored under very high pressure. To provide an automobile with range and a level of safety comparable to gasoline will be a real engineering challenge.

LPG has a public danger the public doesnt know about. your gas grill is using LPG. for the most part people just go to walmart to swap their empty tank for a full tank. but there are refill stations around. the refill stations require a trained tech to refill your tank. there can never be such a thing as refill yourself. my second job in my life some fourty years ago was at u-haul. I remember the first time a motor home came in for a refill. you have to wear gloves because when you make a mistake like I did the gas releases and freezes everything in its path. there is a point of no return where you just got to jump out of the way and watch the entire 5000 gallon tank go up in the air.

it indeed a super clean burning gas. its also used in forklifts and stoves and appliances inside where humans live. one of the loudest bangs I ever heard was a building that exploded one mile from my house and killed two people. when propane leaks into a room a cigarette can lead to instant death.

Throughout history, we used what was at our immediate disposal to provide what life required.
If we needed heat and there were trees, we burned them for heat and for cooking.
If there were no trees, we looked for other things - peat, animal droppings, grass, bushes... whatever would work.
We were fine as long as we were using less than our environment was providing.
When the resources were marginal or depleted, we packed up and moved out.

Then we became "civilized"...

Now we have created a "stuff" trap for ourselves.
We 'own' where we live and we pay for it over and over again in "utilities".
We don't know who provides our food... but we complain about being exploited by them.
Water is something we demand to be there the moment we open the tap.
Electricity must be available all the time, whether we actually need it or not at that moment...

In my country, the national electricity supplier has become mired in a swamp of ineptitude, inefficiency and kleptocracy caused by a miss-match between what the job requires and the abilities of the person appointed to do it. Many see their employment not as a work opportunity, but merely as an 'earning opportunity' not requiring any deliverables or added value in the equation.

Grid supply shortages regularly incur area "load-shedding." Suddenly, my neighbourhood has the supply cutfor 2-3 hours according to an ad hoc timetable. When the grid comes on again, we get an instantaneous start-up overload and the local grid trips. So the power cuts yet again until technicians get around to the switching station and restart in small area again. 2-3 hours become 4-8 hours and more!

South Africans have taken an "F-U 2" response and are going off-grid as much as they can afford. Motorcycle fora have threads discussing and advising on-site power generation from our wonderful sunshine. Building codes require all new buildings provide over 50% of their hot water requirements (our big power consumer) from non-carbon-burning sources - which INCLUDES grid power. Even our social housing has been upgraded with solar water heaters that perch on small houses like some sorry stranded space satellite.

Houses in the suburbs have large Elastoplasted areas of retrofit solar panels, powering low-voltage LED household lighting. Inverters power essential appliances. Stoves are LPG.
Many of these were to be subsidized by ESKOM - the power provider. Since when do businesses pay customers to NOT buy the product they sell ?

I see little option other than to REDUCE what we consume - and tap into the sun's daily energy gift as much as we can, using innovative infrastructure and appliances.
As an architect, I can design solar collectors as part of the building instead of merely being an afterthought.
Simple, economical appliances such as solar ovens can be used by less-wealthy people for their needs...

Instead of saying:
"Think out of the box." let us say:
"The box does not exist. What do we do?"

Radical ideas come from radical scenarios and crises give birth to ingenuity.
(Remember Apollo 13?}

A story from my past:
I was engaging with an entire hospital management committee meeting around their collective extreme objections to the proposed renovating of an Operating Suite. They had lists of problems and zero solutions -because the individual staff members just couldn't work outside the box.

In order to break the impasse, I put forward a scenario:

"When you got to the hospital this morning, you found that a fire had burned its way through the entire roof structure of the Operating Suite.
It cannot be used at all and will have to be shut down for a minimum of 12 months while the wreckage is cleared and contractors can refurbish the building. WHAT DO YOU DO?!!"

The various teams split up in huddles and within 30 minutes a viable plan was tabled for shifting functions on site and referring procedures to other facilites nearby. Staff and consumables were reorganized to meet the new situation. Having done the exercise, they agreed it could work.

"I am glad to hear that, because that's EXACTLY what you are going to do - starting today. I am just giving you the convenience of three months advance warning of the fire!"

The project went ahead well, the hospital worked through the building works and the management developed an entirely new business continuity plan and a crisis response team - all using scenario stimuli such as what I had used.

Excuse my verbosity. Rant over...?

couldnt really agree more. the technology age is young. and it grew so fast we are just now realizing we are killing the planet. nova "earth emergency" really spells it out. the environment is dangerously close to a tipping point where an uncontrollable feedback loop destroys the environment we live in .

too much co2 from vehicles. too much deforesting, etc. its a hot mess.
the technology age just grew too fast, with zero concern what would happen to the future.

rant away.
I feel ya.

Past tense. Was an engineering challenge. Hydrogen powered cars are on the road today, and by all accounts they are reasonably safe.

All I can say is it seems to work as regards the gas grill out in the shed and the gas cylinder I have for my little arc welder. We seem to have managed to get most IC engine companies to agree on a limited selection of fuel sources so why should this be a major problem?

Various people did the math through out the industrial revolution
The math of the volumes & quantities involved the use of coal & oil and the potential for environmental degradation
That we as humans can affect our air, water & land in profound & irreversible ways is not a new revelation
We can barely mitigate the effects
No chance of slowing growth
Given the choice a vast majority of people on the planet want to live the western lifestyle
We passed the tipping point a century or so ago, because the growth is impossible to quell
Everyone one must leave legacy, which for the most part is more, more children, more land, more money
The need to leave a mark, to be remembered, we all feel it in different ways, to stand out, be noticed, remembered

Humans are the
Apex Invasive Species
Destined to consume until we choke on our own effluent

The planet will be fine, the amount of land that will support humans without large energy inputs will continue to shrink

This generation of hydrogen discussion is quite a bit better than the
I'm gonna mount an electrolizer on my car & run on water of the 2000's

A two wheeler that runs on unicorn farts [hydrogen] won't be more than a novelty, like propane or even diesel powered
https://www.rideapart.com/news/254116/hero-rnt-two-wheel-drive-diesel-electric-hybrid-scooter-concept/