ORIGINAL: Willystylz
I'm sorry but that hydrogen system looked quite bulky. Unless it gets much smaller, I don't really see much advantages of hydrogen over a couple good lipo batteries. Sure you can run 45-60 mins, but at the same time you'd have to watch your motor's temp after running so long. Plus, are we honestly going to have refuelling stations at our houses???
That's the other thing. The application doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The fuel cell is more of a generator/converter, not an optimum power storage device (for our needs).
RC trucks aren't used for classical transportation, they are used for entertainment. So there is honestly little practical value to moving the generator along with your truck.
Hence it would be better to split things up. You can get 40 minute runtimes with a battery today, and that battery is lighter, cheaper, etc. So you run for 40 minutes and then you change out the battery, which takes less than a minute. At the same time you have the fuel cell charging another battery, and that
way you can run basically nonstop by swapping the batteries.
The fuel cell is really no more useful than any other portable generator, maybe the fuel is a bit cheaper since you can make your own hydrogen. But that's pretty much it.
In real-world, fixed applications the fuel cell may be a useful device. For instance, when the power company installs 'smart meters' and then starts charging for electricity based on realtime design, if the fuel cell is efficient and does not degrade over multiple cycles (like a battery does), you can fill up the cell when the rates are cheap (ie. at night) and then use the power or even dump it back into the grid (and sell it) during the day.
And I for one do believe that oil-burning engines are on the way out. Once China, India, other nations with 2-5x our population become fully developed, the price of oil products will be so high that the free market will move things in other directions.