Hydrogen
Hydrogen as an alternate fuel instead of petrol or diesel illustrates the current problems with seemingly everyone looking in every different direction for an alternative fuel. There are two versions for the use of Hydrogen, the use of Hydrogen in a traditional type combustion engine to drive vehicles or a fuel cell which produces electricity for an 'electric' car.
Combustion Hydrogen
Involves the conversion of current cars similar to an LPG conversion. Some car manufacturers have made specific Hydrogen combustion engines. BMW developed the H2R, a series 7 prototype and Mazda have developed a Hydrogen combustible Wankel engine. These engines use liquid hydrogen as a combustion agent similar to petrol or diesel. With a 6 litre engine and a top speed of over 187mph the BMW is no G Wiz to be laughed at by top gear fans. It is a record breaking futuristic car.
Fuel Cell
The simplest way to describe fuel cells is that they are a giant battery, which produces electricity to drive electric vehicles. However this would be over simplifying what is in effect a mini power station generator in your car. Hydrogen and oxygen are combined in a chemical process which produces water and electricity. An example is Honda's FCX car.
Advantages
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and the technology exists to process it in large quantities, although the refinement process is still in its infancy. The waste product is water with no pollutants like carbon monoxide, sulphides etc. Hydrogen combustion and fuel cells are more efficient than petrol combustion they get 60-80% conversion from their fuel whilst petrol gets as low as 20%.
Disadvantages
There appears to be an irrational fear about the safety of Hydrogen probably ingrained in the public psyche from the Hindenburg disaster, which according to recent investigations by accident experts was actually caused by the material of the craft being impregnated with a highly flammable compound which acted like a wick, not the Hydrogen. There is a high production cost, at present, but this could improve with mass production. There is a lack of Hydrogen at fuel pumps. The low density conversion of energy can cause a problem with more stops at the refuelling stop. The vast array of technologies which have not been finalised , there are many different types of fuel cell processes including polymer exchange membrane fuel cell, alkaline fuel cell, phosphoric-acid fuel cell, among many others. There is no clear winner so no-one is going to put billions into producing one type of fuel cell in case it is the wrong technology.
What about the Cost?
There is still a high production cost, at present for hydrogen. Fuel cells use precious metals and if mass produced would strip the world resources and drive up the cost of the cells to perhaps uneconomical levels. There is a need to build an infrastructure for producing and delivering hydrogen to the fuel pump.
So are hydrogen cars the answer to conserving fossil fuels and the environment? At this point no, but hydrogen is a strong contender but there needs to be consensus on combustible versus fuel cell and if fuel cell which type and could this cause similar problems for precious metals as petrol has done for oil resources.
Hydrogen as an alternate fuel instead of petrol or diesel illustrates the current problems with seemingly everyone looking in every different direction for an alternative fuel. There are two versions for the use of Hydrogen, the use of Hydrogen in a traditional type combustion engine to drive vehicles or a fuel cell which produces electricity for an 'electric' car.
Combustion Hydrogen
Involves the conversion of current cars similar to an LPG conversion. Some car manufacturers have made specific Hydrogen combustion engines. BMW developed the H2R, a series 7 prototype and Mazda have developed a Hydrogen combustible Wankel engine. These engines use liquid hydrogen as a combustion agent similar to petrol or diesel. With a 6 litre engine and a top speed of over 187mph the BMW is no G Wiz to be laughed at by top gear fans. It is a record breaking futuristic car.
Fuel Cell
The simplest way to describe fuel cells is that they are a giant battery, which produces electricity to drive electric vehicles. However this would be over simplifying what is in effect a mini power station generator in your car. Hydrogen and oxygen are combined in a chemical process which produces water and electricity. An example is Honda's FCX car.
Advantages
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and the technology exists to process it in large quantities, although the refinement process is still in its infancy. The waste product is water with no pollutants like carbon monoxide, sulphides etc. Hydrogen combustion and fuel cells are more efficient than petrol combustion they get 60-80% conversion from their fuel whilst petrol gets as low as 20%.
Disadvantages
There appears to be an irrational fear about the safety of Hydrogen probably ingrained in the public psyche from the Hindenburg disaster, which according to recent investigations by accident experts was actually caused by the material of the craft being impregnated with a highly flammable compound which acted like a wick, not the Hydrogen. There is a high production cost, at present, but this could improve with mass production. There is a lack of Hydrogen at fuel pumps. The low density conversion of energy can cause a problem with more stops at the refuelling stop. The vast array of technologies which have not been finalised , there are many different types of fuel cell processes including polymer exchange membrane fuel cell, alkaline fuel cell, phosphoric-acid fuel cell, among many others. There is no clear winner so no-one is going to put billions into producing one type of fuel cell in case it is the wrong technology.
What about the Cost?
There is still a high production cost, at present for hydrogen. Fuel cells use precious metals and if mass produced would strip the world resources and drive up the cost of the cells to perhaps uneconomical levels. There is a need to build an infrastructure for producing and delivering hydrogen to the fuel pump.
So are hydrogen cars the answer to conserving fossil fuels and the environment? At this point no, but hydrogen is a strong contender but there needs to be consensus on combustible versus fuel cell and if fuel cell which type and could this cause similar problems for precious metals as petrol has done for oil resources.
