Elon Musk Says Fuel Cell Cars Are ‘Bullsh*t’

Elon Musk created a profitable electronic payment system when the banks said it wouldn’t work. He then created the world’s first commercial space company when investors gawked. He even created a profitable all-electric vehicle while the big three automakers attempted to crush his dreams. One thing Elon Musk won’t invest in? Fuel cell cars.

Tesla’s CEO gave a speech in Germany recently where he talked about alternative energy sources. Speaking in front of a packed Munich crowd, Musk outright claimed that “fuel cells are bullsh*t.” He made that comment while talking about why electric cars should lead the alternative energy revolution.

“The only reason they do fuel cell [is because] it’s like a marketing thing,” said Musk. “But the reality is, you take a fuel cell vehicle, and you take best case for a fuel cell vehicle in terms of mass and volume required to go particular range … it doesn’t even equal the current state of the art in lithium ion batteries. So there’s no way for it to be a workable technology.”

While developing commercial space travel for SpaceX, Elon Musk learned a thing or two about fuel cell technology. He used that experience to back up his claims with the Munich crowd.

“Putting up a huge hydrogen distribution structure is also extremely difficult. And hydrogen is quite a dangerous gas. It’s suitable for the upper stage of rockets, but not for cars.”

Elon Musk then talked about the future of Tesla, specifically 2014, the year in which the car’s dashboard browser will be powered by Google Chrome for the first time. Musk told the crowd that he was even considering a full Android OS so that drivers can run Android apps via the Tesla’s 17-inch dashboard touchscreen.

With Elon Musk we rarely know what will become a reality next time around; in the case of fuel cells, however, the future seems pretty black and white.