Hydrogen power is just around the corner folks....

[Joe 1320]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11837613/

Things are about to get interesting.

[thenuge876]

That is very interesting. Im very interested to see how things work out. It has good styling to it as well.

[raroZ28]

That'd be awesome. That'd be sweet if those got big. Hydro stations on every corner. Just as long as the cars aren't ridiculously over-priced.

Whatever happend to nuclear energy?

[Z Ya Later]

Mmmmmm...Hydro-Beamer

[Rhode Island Red]

Imagine Hydro powered Vette - 400+ hp and no emissions to worry about... have at it with the mods with no worries in so cal

[Screaming mad]

Well i've seen some nasty disasters with gasoline...
And to be honest theres alot of people I would not trust to drive a motor vehical with a tank of gasoline Time bomb!
Now imagine letting the public loose with a tank of hydrogen...
Oh my, I think were in for a major disaster...

Just my thoughts!

[wolfdogs]

swell....now even our cars will be filled with "gas"...............

[Z Ya Later]

Well i've seen some nasty disasters with gasoline...
And to be honest theres alot of people I would not trust to drive a motor vehical with a tank of gasoline Time bomb!
Now imagine letting the public loose with a tank of hydrogen...
Oh my, I think were in for a major disaster...

Just my thoughts!

Ok, your house can blow up using natural gas or burn down using electricity. There's always going to be a danger.

[fastTa]

Ok, your house can blow up using natural gas or burn down using electricity. There's always going to be a danger.

Yep, I've watched a few specials on these Hydrogen powered vehicles and it looks as if they are taking the science of storing the Hydrogen very seriously.

I believe the BMW in that article is still a internal combustion that simply utilizes Hydrogen gas(H2 on the pump) as opposed to gasoline. BMW is also working on H fuel cell cars as well though. The real challenge and revolution is going to be the Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars utilizing liquid Hydrogen and a reaction with atmosperical Oxygen to create a catalytic reaction resulting in electrical energy to power an electo-magnetic motor which would propel the car. Either use of Hydrogen, whether it be a gaseous or lquid form, is going to still be dependant on fossil fuels as a Hydrogen carrier in order to manufacture the Hydrogen for use in these vehicles. Very interesting technology on the horizon.

Another thing with the fuel cell technology is not only the cost of manufacturing the Hydrogen, but the cost of producing the catalytic and bipolar plates. It involves a tedious and laborious machining and assembly process. There was talk of the use of Platinum within the plates creating a concern for cost as well, but they have significantly reduced the amount of Platinum needed as of late, and I suspect they will even find a way to reduce the need for a given amount of Platinum even less down the road.

The interesting thing is that most of the Automobile Engineers and Scientists involved in this revolutionary type propulsion are really leaning towards a way to utilize liquid H since it is much more dense and obviously contains much more energy per unit volume than it's gaseous form H2. Storing liquid H ain't easy though. It required extremely cold temps and a significant amount of pressure. Propane, natural gas, gasoline, and less common ones like methanol and ethanol, contain Hydrogen in their natural chemical makeup. As soon as they figure out a way to 'extract' the Hydrogen from these fuels in order to power the fuel cell, they could focus on relieving some of the associated costs instead of liquid Hydrogen storage.

[Rhode Island Red]

Just received the latest Scientific American in the mail, and there is a major article about hydrogen fuel and hybrids Coincidence???? Joe - you may be on to something here

[Black97]

Interesting news. I guess before you start working on the engine you would have to purge it with CO2 to ensure that you have no Hydrogen left. Everybody would need a Hydrogen detector so they know it's safe to work on it.

[Crazy Canuk]

I think hydrogen is the way to go but it is at least 15-20 years away maybe more. In the shorter term ethonal will be used but even that is years off.

The company I work for as a side project is dipping into geothermal heating/cooling for houses. I love this kind of stuff imagin clean renuable energy thats not expencive. Solar and wind power are also out there.

[Roger in Kensington]

Not likely. At least not as anything other than a novelty.

Hydrogen is highly impractical as a transportation fuel. Not terribly energy efficient, either.

[Joe 1320]

The concept would be to use a small hydrogen powercell engine to keep the battery packs fully charged. That combined with regenerative braking, full electric motor drive with a decent range should soon be possible. Imagine the torque of direct drive brushless electric motors on all four wheels tied to a computer controlled traction application, enough torque to smoke all 4 hides from 0-80 mph and still have a cruising range of 600 miles between hydrogen fuelings. sign me up! I can't wait for the day that the internal combustion engine is laughed at for it's crude waste of energy........ (Most of you already know that most of the energy from an internal combustion engine is released in the form of heat. ) Such a waste. Noisy and fun...... but still a waste. I also can't wait for the day that I can nail the throttle from a dead stop, smoke the hides for 100 ft and yet be whisper quiet as I vanish in the distance.

[Maverick_82]

Well i've seen some nasty disasters with gasoline...
And to be honest theres alot of people I would not trust to drive a motor vehical with a tank of gasoline Time bomb!
Now imagine letting the public loose with a tank of hydrogen...
Oh my, I think were in for a major disaster...

Just my thoughts!

OH MY GOD! not another heidenburg believer! hydrogen for hydrogen powered cars, if stored in carbon nanofiber tubes, can be quite stable! the heidenburg was filled with LOOSE (highly reactive state) particles of hydrogen, and it was struck by lighting! inagine if the heidenburg was full of gasoline at the time, lol.