Have FCVs gotten their mojo back?
Honda has definitely stepped up their fuel cell effortsRecently, Honda stated that the near future for Honda was hybrid cars, then fuel cell vehicles. Electric cars would not be part of Honda's plans (more).
Is Honda crazy?
GM, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and many other automakers have also been significantly ramping up their fuel cell vehicle efforts. It appears that a corner has been turned on fuel cell vehicles. Still, despite the amazing progress that fuel cell vehicles have made in the last couple of years, there is one HUGE problem.
Where is the hydrogen highway? Where are all these fuel cell vehicles going to refuel? In California, a hydrogen-leader, hydrogen filling stations are decreasing, not increasing, and building a new hydrogen highway infrastructure could cast as much as $500 billion according to some estimates.
So, is Honda crazy? Maybe, or maybe Honda's hydrogen Home Fueling Station is far closer to reality than the skeptics believe. Considering Honda's history, I wouldn't bet against them.
Labels: fuel economy, hybrid cars
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:54 AM
7 Comments:
Much work is being done to create hydrogen for fuel cells through catalytic conversion from oil-based fuels. It's basically a heat and catalyst-based chemical conversion that outputs a high volume of hydrogen to run a fuel cell. You can read about one company that has already developed this technology at http://www.tekkie.com. If this works out, we continue to use the oil-based delivery infrastructure but extract energy from the oil in a way that produces less pollution and no CO2.
No hydrogen highway and no long lived fuel cell = NO GO. I wish the automakers would just abandon the idea...
Your hydrogen powered fuel cell car will still have a gas tank. But the gas will be converted to H2 through an on board catalytic conversion process and that H2 will power the fuel cell. You will continue to refuel your hydrogen powered fuel cell car at gas stations.
You will not go to a "hydrogen station" but to a regular gas station to get gasoline or diesel fuel which is converted to H2 on board your car.
jabroni-
The fuel cell technology is really getting there. I've driven a few fuel cell vehicles, and in the last couple years automakers have made some remarkable gains in this technology. The biggest obstacle to the technology is cost, although automakers claim that if they could sell at least 1,000,000 fuel cell vehicles per year, economies of scale would make FCVs cost-effective.
Still, that hydrogen highway is a major issue, and I think that technologies, such as the one Edward points out, and many others could resolve this problem. But the keyword there is could. You are right, it might never happen. I personally believe it will, but I acknowledge I could be wrong.
Ultimately, fuel cell development has still helped push the development of vehicles like the EV1, which I know is important to you, so I think even if FCVs don't develop, they will help develop better electric cars and plug-in hybrids.
More people should learn about electric vehicles as a solution. "Zero emissions" is something that's going to be required by law one day (you know it will). Making the decision to go electric is far cheaper anyway, like 10 cents on the dollar vs. gas. (source: zapworld.com)
There is guides out there that teach you how to convert your own cars in hydrogen powered vehicles - Hydrogen powered cars
Yes there are many guides available on internet which provide easy and helpful instructions on how to Run Your Car On Water
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