Honda FCX and other Fuel Cell Vehicles

[Swamp Gas]

Honda is doing something about the problems of fossil fuel dependence and global warming. Now, hopefully, everyone else will follow suit.



automobilemag.com/reviews/wagons/0508_honda_fcx/

Honda FCX

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By Don Sherman

Belleville, Michigan - To celebrate Earth Day, we drove the environmentally friendly Honda FCX (experimental fuel-cell vehicle)--to the future. It was a short trip, because the future was a group of 100 or so seventh-graders at the local middle school. Given that these twelve-year-olds will inherit the earth and its transportation issues, who better to experience the first EPA-certified car that runs on hydrogen and exhales water vapor?

Our science class show-and-tell began with facts. The 107-hp electric motor draws current from a fuel cell that combines hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction. Two tanks carry 8.4 pounds of fuel, enough for 190 miles, while an ultracapacitor stores extra energy for acceleration. But what most impressed our audience was the news that Ms. Malacek's lucky students were about to be among the first 1000 citizens to ride in a fuel-cell-powered vehicle.

They were impressed with the trivially easy starting procedure and the nearly silent, surprisingly energetic acceleration around the school parking lot. The animated instrument cluster and the FCX's ease of recouping energy during braking generated high praise and a barrage of questions: How much? How soon? Will leather seats and air suspension be available? What's up with that puddle under the tailpipe?

After classes, we clocked 0-to-60-mph acceleration at 13.5 seconds and verified Honda's 93-mph top-speed claim. Clearly, this Honda eclipses the notion that fuel-cell cars are souped-up golf carts suitable only for tree huggers and tech geeks. When it's ready for sale, seventh-graders--such as Connor Vandivier, who penned the appreciative poetry below--will be ready.

The hydrogen car was really great.
It seems like a great gadget for a date.
It looked awesome, it was really cool.
It made the gas cars look like fools.
They're way better than the cars that are German.
Thank you, thank you, Mr. Sherman.

[Swamp Gas]

General Motors, who are in the worst of shape, and banking on Fuel Cell Technology too

www.gm.com/company/gmability/adv_tech/400_fcv/

Reinventing the Automobile with Fuel Cell Technology


GM has a history of momentous technological breakthroughs — including hydrogen fuel cell power. General Motors has established extensive hydrogen fuel cell research and development facilities both in the U.S. and Europe. It has produced AUTOnomy, a concept vehicle that captures the vision and potential of hydrogen fuel cell technology, and the revolutionary Hy-wire, a vehicle unmatched in both hydrogen and electronic technology.

The Hy-wire's fuel cell propulsion system is housed entirely in an 11-inch thick skateboard-like chassis. By-wire controls attached to the chassis through a single docking port use electrical signals instead of mechanical links of hydraulics to control steering, acceleration and braking. Without an engine, steering column or other conventional vehicle components, this concept provides unprecedented design freedom.

But visionary vehicles aren't the only result of GM's commitment to technology innovation and leadership:

GM has made great strides in solving many of the challenges inherent in fuel cell technology, including the tendency to freeze and stop working in cold weather. The GM fuel cell's freeze start-up time has decreased to less than 15 seconds for 100% power at minus 20 degrees Celsius.

With its historic expertise in manufacturing and engineering, GM has taken a leadership position in fuel cell technology, systems, controls and gasoline/natural gas hydrogen fuel reforming.

GM's prototype stationary fuel cell unit already generates power for GM's New York fuel cell development facility.

GM recently developed a novel stack concept that enables an additional 50 percent reduction in stack size over the stack that debuted in the Sequel.

GM's revolutionary fuel cell vehicle, Hy-wire, has no internal combustion engine, instrument panel, brake or accelerator pedals — but it does have ample power supplied by a GM fuel cell that runs on hydrogen.

[Swamp Gas]

www.happynews.com/news/12222005/transportation-researchers-get-daimlerchrysler-hydrogen-car-for-the-holidays-.htm


Transportation researchers get Daimler Chrysler hydrogen car for the holidays

(Sarah Yang / UC Berkeley) :: Tim Lipman, UC Berkeley research engineer, sits behind the wheel of DaimlerChrysler's prototype F-cell hydrogen car.

UC Berkeley

Sarah Yang

Updated: 12/30/05

BERKELEY

Flat panel televisions and iPods may be on a lot of Christmas wish lists, but researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are getting a more elite gift for the holidays. For the next two years, they will get to drive a new hydrogen fuel cell car, courtesy of the DaimlerChrysler Corporation.


"We're interested in the performance of the vehicle and the reactions of PATH staff to its experiences with the car," said Tim Lipman, project co-manager and assistant research engineer at the California Center for Innovative Transportation at UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS). "Hydrogen is a promising fuel for a sustainable energy future, but there are key technical and economic obstacles remaining to its widespread use."

Hydrogen cars are being explored nationally as an environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline powered vehicles. The project at UC Berkeley is connected to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) effort to assess the viability of hydrogen vehicle and infrastructure technology in real world settings. Through the Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project, the DOE expects to help automotive companies make a decision by 2015 about the commercialization of hydrogen vehicles.

DaimlerChrysler, the head of one of five DOE teams in this project, has manufactured more than 100 fuel cell vehicles, a third of which are earmarked for demonstration projects throughout California. Most of the vehicles are being placed with state and local agencies. UC Berkeley is receiving the F-Cell for research purposes.

In hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the hydrogen is converted into electricity to run an electric motor, producing water as a byproduct. Even when hydrogen is burned in a combustion engine vehicle, the exhaust is much cleaner than that of gasoline- or diesel-powered engines, as well as that burned in gasoline-electric hybrids that have grown increasingly popular in recent years.

The F-Cell vehicle employs a 72-kilowatt fuel cell system. The vehicle can travel up to 100 miles on a full tank of about five pounds of hydrogen.

"One of the things we'll be evaluating in the next year is interest in the public in fuel cell vehicles and reactions to refueling, which can take up to 10 minutes, and a limited driving range," said Susan Shaheen, project co-manager and PATH program leader in policy and behavioral research.

While a great deal of attention has been paid to the promise of hydrogen vehicles, one of the major constraints to the wide deployment of such cars is the limited availability of refueling stations. UC Berkeley researchers will be filling up at a station operated by AC Transit in Richmond. That station currently supports the agency's fuel cell bus program. The researchers will also have use of a hydrogen fueling station at UC Davis, where transportation researchers have been testing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles made by Toyota.

In 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order creating a public and private partnership to build a hydrogen highway in California. There are currently 16 hydrogen fueling stations operational in California, and 15 more in the planning stage. The "Phase I" goal of the hydrogen highway is to create 50 to 100 hydrogen stations throughout the state by 2010.

Earlier this year the state legislature approved $6.5 million in initial funding for the California hydrogen highway effort. This includes funding for three new stations that will be cost shared with industry.

The focus of the UC Berkeley research will be on the use of the F-Cell vehicle in a commercial fleet rather than through personal or consumer use. As such, the car will be kept at the PATH facility at the UC Berkeley Richmond Field Station, and driven for work-related trips to Sacramento and other locations.

UC Berkeley researchers will get to drive the vehicle for two years. During that time, they expect to put 10,000 miles per year on the vehicle.

The researchers expect to let other PATH employees get behind the wheel in exchange for participating in surveys and focus groups, and to apply for funding for additional studies related to vehicle fleet user and general public responses to this new vehicle technology.

[CDsNuTz]

Now if they'd just make this in a hydrogen fuel "JET" I'd be set!!!!

[Swamp Gas]

Or Some of these. I would retrofit our 2003 Cavalier with a hydrogen engine though

[CDsNuTz]

Who needs a hydrogen fuel rocket when ya have one of these....

[CDsNuTz]

What ya running in that demon swamp???

[Mech]

Those hybrids are just wayyyyy too small for my taste.

It's like driving a can of sardines.


Hows this for renewable,recycled and zero greenhouse.

A Propane powered Chevelle SS 450 HP.





Perfect for evening Burger Stand tire roasting sessions.

[CDsNuTz]

OOOOH YEA!!!

[CDsNuTz]

I still like that new Challenger,Not much of a plymouth man but thats a hot car.Not much of a Ford man either but I like the new Mustangs as well,the 2007 shelby should be something..Then you have Chevy's next attempt at glory.....




I'm not to sure about this concept car..They could make some changes to make it look more retro,more like the actual 1969, I am a Chevy guy also so dont get me wrong on this.It's just wierd looking..

[CDsNuTz]

Sorry for taking this off topic..

[CDsNuTz]

www.hybridcars.com/hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars.html

Hydrogen


The Drawbacks of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
The concept of using hydrogen fuel cells to power the next generation of vehicles is often posed as the solution to the many problems created by automobile pollution and oil dependency.

Fuel cell cars are a long way off: Hybrid cars already exist as commercial products and are available to cut pollution now. On the other hand, fuel-cell cars are expected on the same schedule as NASA's manned trip to Mars—and have about the same level of likelihood.

Hydrogen fuel cells cost more: Hydrogen fuel cells in vehicles are about twice as efficient as internal-combustion engines; however, hydrogen fuel cell costs are nearly 100 times as much per unit of power produced. Hydrogen is a fuel carrier, and should not be viewed as a source of energy.

Fuel-cell vehicles are dirtier: Fuel-cell cars emit only water vapor and heat, but the creation of the hydrogen fuel (via burning coal, for example) can be responsible for more overall greenhouse gas emissions than conventional internal combustion engines.

Hydrogen fuel is harder to transport: Moving large volumes of hydrogen gas requires compressing it. Hydrogen compression rates mean that 15 trucks are required to power the same number of cars that could be served by a single gasoline tanker. Liquid hydrogen would require less (about three trucks), but would require substantially more effort and energy to liquefy.

Hydrogen is much more dangerous: As dangerous as a leak of natural gas is, a hydrogen leak is worse because hydrogen ignites at a wider range of concentrations and requires less energy to ignite. And hydrogen burns invisibly. "It's scary—you cannot see the flame, " says Michael D. Amiridis, chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of South Carolina.

Cars may be the last place that fuel cells are used on a commercial scale. Chances are much better that they will start in stationary applications, or in cell phones and laptop computers. Other perhaps more promising substitutes for oil-based transportation include natural gas, bio-fuels, and electricity stored in new generation batteries in electric or hybrid cars.

Hybrids as Bridge to Fuel Cells
The many obstacles to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will not stop the auto companies and the government from investing big money into research and development. If the researchers stand any chance of success, they will need to better understand today's hybrid gas-electric cars. That's why hybrids are considered a bridge technology. "An awful lot of today's Prius is similar to the fuel cell vehicles we're building and testing, " said Bill Bergen, Toyota's national dealer education manager for operations and technical training.

[CDsNuTz]

www.hydrogen-cars.biz/

Hydrogen Cars


Hydrogen cars are the future. With hydrogen cars as the status quo, the U. S. can lessen its dependence upon foreign oil and cut down on the greenhouse gases that produce global warming. The future of hydrogen cars is not a pipe dream, as there are already some hydrogen-powered concept cars on the road. In the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, hydrogen fuel cell cars were used to shuttle athletes and dignitaries around to the various venues.

Pictured below is a Los Almos National Labratory's rendition of a hydrogen concept car.

Los Alamos National Labratory

For the past 28 years, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has been conducting research on hydrogen fuel cells for use in transportation, industry and residential use. According to the LANL, "Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Research at Los Alamos has made significant technological advances in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC), and related technologies such as the electrolyzer (a fuel cell in reverse, liberating hydrogen from electricity and pure water)."

Unlike many of the hybrid and "green" cars currently on the market, hydrogen cars or h2 cars offer the promise of zero emission technology, where the only byproduct from the cars is water. Current fossil-fuel burning vehicles emit all sorts of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, ozone and microscopic particulate matter. Hybrids and other green cars address these issues to a large extent but only hydrogen cars hold the promise of zero tolerance for pollutants. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that fossil-fuel automobiles emit 1 ½ billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year and going to hydrogen-based transportation would all but eliminate this.

Not only that, but hydrogen cars will lessen the United State's dependence upon foreign oil. The so-called "hydrogen highways" will mean less dependence upon OPEC, the big U. S. oil companies, oil refinery malfunctions and breakdowns and less resistance from oil selling nations like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia or from hostile nations who would rather sell elsewhere. Consumers will finally get a break from the never-ending rising prices at the gasoline pumps.

President Bush has already allocated approximately $2 billion in hydrogen highway research. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing to get 200 hydrogen filling stations built within the next 5 years stretching from Vancouver, British Columbia, all the way down to Baja, California. Since Californians buy one-fifth of the nations cars, the new hydrogen car technology could simply replace the current gasoline engine automobiles in what is called "disruptive technology" where something so innovative comes along it simply replaces the old technology very quickly.

Then again, the most likely scenario is that current combustion engines will simply be converted over to hydrogen burning engines in a transitional phase until hydrogen fuel cell cars are fully implemented. The conversion from gasoline powered combustion engines to hydrogen powered combustion engines is agreed upon by most scientists and engineers to be a particularly easy transition and would by time for hydrogen fuel cell cars to be fully adapted. H2 cars are the future.

[Swamp Gas]

cdsnutz said:

What ya running in that demon swamp???

That one in the pic is a 340. We have an over-bored 318, about 330 cu in. Ours is pretty stock, other than an electronic ignition. We still have the points and condensor ready to go...just in case.

We have our Cavalier, which is about the same size as the hydrogens, so that wouldn't be a problem. It is intimidating with big trucks, as when we drive our 1987 Dodge Ram Van 300, even the big rigs give you space. Stay hard to the right, and keep the speed limit with little cars.

I'm pretty excited about seeing the hydros appear more. Somewhere, I can't find the article, about someone wanting to use water as a fuel, and it was split into oxygon and hydrogen, to run from that. Essentially, fuel cells do that, but this H2O idea was a leap ahead.

[KNOWTHIS]

First Drive: GM's Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Pickup