Everything I know about chemistry, physics, engineering, etc. tells me hydrogen power is a meme. My dad (who is an engineer) thinks so too. The only people I see promoting it seem to have a financial interest in it.

Am I wrong?

For example someone told me there was a new Hydrogen technology take made it "solid state" and as energy dense as diesel that I should look up. But when I did, the company itself said the energy density was the same as normal hydrogen. I.e., the common investor didn't know that they had to factor in the pressure required, so the new technology (which was some kind of film/tape material that hydrogen was place on?) was just as dense as hydrogen gas which is not very dense at all.

It seems like you either use electric (supplied by power lines) or you use hydrocarbons and recycle them. There isn't a more more efficient energy storage. If hydrocarbons didn't exist you would want to invent them.