Gather Members,
Here is a list of major car manufacturers who are developing proptypes for hydrogen fuel cell powered EV cars and hybrids.
Becky Novak
A Honda Civic for the age
of global warming
by Todd Woody
December 10, 2007
Amid the upheaval at Tesla Motors last week, a milestone in the annals of the electric car went largely unnoticed. At Think Global's factory in the Norwegian countryside, the first of the company's battery-powered City urban runabouts rolled off the assembly line.
A canary-yellow two-seater sporting baby-seal-eye headlights and a bumper-to-roof glass hatch, this first production Think City will go about 112 miles (180 kilometers) on a single charge. It's zippy, fun to drive and could well be the Honda Civic for the age of global warming.
(more) http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Hybrids: Eco-friendly cars of the future
Autoindia.com
December 07, 2007
http://www.autoindia.com/Column/ColumnArticle.aspx?id=527
Cars are slowly taking over the world. Ever since we ditched the horse as our means of transportation, the motor vehicle has become our primary source of getting from point A to point B.
The future is green, renewable, not dependent on oil. The best bet is fuel cell. Though this technology is over a century old, the price was too high to use this practically. But recent commitment from various governments, universities and various car companies since 1990 has increased the level of technology and reduced the price drastically. Now hydrogen fuel cells are coming within the decade.
Hydrogen fuel cells use hydrogen to power their engines. Although directly using hydrogen is polluting, technology is being developed to use hydrogen to create electricity to power the vehicles. This type of engine is still far from being practical but several companies have released prototypes.
- BMW - The BMW Hydrogen 7 is powered by a dual-fuel internal combustion engine and with an auxiliary power based on UTC (United Technologies Corporation) Power fuel cell technology. Both models use Liquid Hydrogen as fuel.
- Daimler Chrysler - F-Cell, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle based on the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
- Ford Motor - Focus FCV (fuel cell vehicle), a hydrogen fuel cell modification of the Ford Focus, and E-350 buses, which began being leased in late 2006.
- General Motors - multiple models of fuel cell vehicles including the Hy-wire and the HydroGen3.
- Honda - currently experimenting with a variety of alternative fuels and fuel cells with experimental vehicles based on the Honda EV (electric vehicle) Plus, most notable the Honda FCX, powered by a front-mounted 80 kW AC electric motor, with 20 kW pancake motors providing supplemental power to the rear wheels. Electrical energy is provided by a 100 kW hydrogen fuel cell, with regenerative braking energy stored in ultra capacitors. Production versions of the FCX are expected to arrive in 2009.
- Hyundai - Tucson FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle), based on UTC Power fuel cell technology.
- Mazda - RX-8, with a dual-fuel (hydrogen or gasoline) rotary-engine.
- Nissan - X-TRAIL FCV (Fuel cell vehicle), based on UTC (United technologies Corporation) Power fuel cell technology.
- Morgan Motor Company - LIFEcar, a performance-oriented hydrogen fuel cell vehicle with the aid of several other British companies.
- Toyota - The Toyota Highlander FCHV (fuel cell electric hybrid vehicle) and FCHV-BUS are currently under development and in active testing.
- Volkswagen - hydrogen fuel cell cars in development.
- REVA - cars made by the Maini Group also hope to convert their battery operated cars into fuel cell cars.
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Comments: 10
I'm removing this article from "I Wanna Build an Earthship!" so that the group can remain dedicated specifically to Earthship articles. I do have a "post anything" group called "What's the Point?" that you might consider including these in.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this article. Let us hope that the economics of the time will finally allow for the actual use of these great techologies, which as Angela said have been more or less available. The future could be brighter than we think.
The Rocky Mountain Institute also presented plans for the Hypercar, which can be adapted for hydrogen fuel cells. Lovins and Hawken, from the Rocky Mountain Institute, have just accepted advisory roles with Ford.
FORD FORMS 'TRANSFORMATION ADVISORY COUNCIL'
This is an interesting development because Ford has recently hired Boeing's CEO. Boeing had "lightweighted" its new 787 airliner with carbon fiber composites, making the jet upwards of 20-25% more fuel efficient. Lovins, who had consulted with Boeing on "lightweighting", has long advocated use of carbon fiber composites in cars and light trucks.
It's not difficult to get a car to run on any particular fuel - we've even had coal and wood-fueled autos in the past. The hard part is getting that fuel to the places it's needed in the quantities required.
Thank you for your comments. No, I haven't been on the group Alternative Fuels page yet.
I will join them. I'd be curious to see if they are discussing using 'water for gas.' That is the new article I am preparing now... but I'll read the other group pages first so I won't have to duplicate information.
"But where does the hydrogen come from?"
Hydrogen would need to be manufactured, in my article "A closer look at alternative energy sources" available at nuclearenergy.gather.com I explain that to produce 1 EJ of energy in the form of hydrogen (the world used about 65 EJs for transportation in 2005) would require a plant close to 500 football fields in size and the water (purified) require to produce that hydrogen would be 57 million gallons daily.
"that is they require more energy than the energy in the hydrogen they produce."
Thats right Gary,
It takes 1.5 units of energy in to get 1 unit of energy out in the form of hydrogen by way of electrolosis.
Energy is lost in any conversion, whether it is from natural gas to hydrogen, coal to electricity, or petroleum to gasoline. That's not an exclusive characteristic of hydrogen production. Actually, less energy is lost in hydrogen conversion relative to other conversions, and that is not to mention that hydrogen is superior in end-use efficiency than other fuels.
For more information on hydrogen, see Amory Lovins' article, Twenty Hydrogen Myths.