Hydrogen hopes

Published: 18 June 2008  10:00 AM
Source: The Engineer Online

Emitting nothing more polluting than water, and doing 280 miles on a full tank, the sporty looking sedan - which uses a fuel cell to charge batteries for driving an electric motor - sounds like just the ticket.

But before you go rushing down to your latest Honda dealer, there are a couple of caveats. Firstly, although Honda has developed a method that allows users to produce their own hydrogen from natural gas, it hasn’t seriously cracked the great infrastructure / versus vehicle debate that’s the hydrogen economy’s very own chicken and egg scenario.

Also, the company only plans on producing 200 of the vehicles over the next three years, which will be leased to customers in Japan and the US. A number of the usual Hollywood eco-set are already reported to be putting their names down.

While it’s certainly one step on from a concept car, it’s misleading at such low volumes, to describe the FCX Clarity as a production vehicle. Perhaps the Engineer could be permitted the creation of a new piece of automotive jargon by calling it a “Pro-cept car.’

And certainly, while Honda hasn’t suddenly succeeded in bringing Hydrogen powered motoring to the masses, it has, in much the same way that Morgan’s hydrogen powered LifeCar did earlier this year, cranked up the awareness levels another notch.

Critically, Honda is also now in a position to gear up to full mass production when the infrastructure does catch up. This means that its rivals won’t want to get left behind, and it could, feasibly, spark just the kind of domino effect that’s needed to breathe confidence into the hydrogen economy.

Jon Excell, features editor

Comments

BMW did some work on this in the late 80's, using liquefied hydrogen as a fuel in an otherwise normal internal combustion engine. It produced zero emissions and water vapour was its only combustion product. The power available was about 40% down on the comparable gasoline-fuelled model, (which could be compensated for by increased engine capacity or efficiency). Several technical problems were overcome such as the storage of liquid hydrogen at high pressures in specially-developed tanks and multi-wall failsafe piping systems to deliver the fuel to the engine. Otherwise the majority of the technology was the same as for the gasoline-engined vehicle, so costs of the hydrogen version were minimal. The infrastructure for such a revolution would need robot couplings at fuel stations, for a start, (due to the cryogenic temperatures and pressures involved not to mention inflammability) but this again has been done - Munich Airport apparently had a fleet of hydrogen powered vehicles. The only ingredients need to produce hydrogen from electrolysis are water and primary electrical energy (from the sun) and there are virtually no emissions (apart from electrical energy needed electrolyse and liquefy it). Environmentally ‘friendly' and useful oxygen is the by-product. How is it not a 'green' fuel in this context?
Chris Miller: 24 Jun 2008

I wish Honda a lot of luck in this project but suspect - as usual - that it will not get the support it deserves. A number of green options have been explored over the years but as soon as they start to gain momentum they get bought out by the oil industry or funding is withdrawn (again due to pressure from the oil industry). We have had the capability for some time to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels but for political reasons (or reasons of short term greed) have failed to take up the challenge. Let's hope - with the issues we are now all too aware of surrounding climate change and the rocketing price of fuel - that this initiative and others like it at last take centre stage. And not before time.
Alistair Brodie: 20 Jun 2008

In the late 1980s I was given the opportunity to join a second generation team of engineers to develop, commission and validate a pilot manufacturing plant for sodium/sulphur batteries. The main driver for the ramp-up from what was then an R&D facility to a pilot production plant was the great interest shown by car manufacturers. The first generation of scientists and engineers had been concerned with load-levelling solutions and public transport propulsion. I had left the company some years before the plug was pulled on the project. Today, hot battery technology is as good as dead as far as I’m aware. The great difficulty in viable manufacturing costs was one of the nails in the coffin for sodium/sulphur battery I seem to recall. I have no idea of the inherent cost in the manufacture of a fuel cell, however any fuel cell’s base fuel will have to meet the latest ‘carbon footprint’ requirements, not to mention ease of supply criteria. Best of luck to all who are working towards the solutions. The potential benefits to us all are great and good. Chris Brown.
Chris Brown: 19 Jun 2008

This is an exciting step by Honda to get the vehicle out in the market. Hydrogen fuel cars are a form of electric cars, and the way technologies are developing, manufacturers are likely to go for one of these strong contenders. New and innovative ways of creating Hydrogen without the large CO2 footprint are in the pipeline (pun intended) and optimising a central process/generation plant is easier than lots of smaller individual ones, i.e. consumers. Unfortunately we will always be limited by corporations and governments which can make easy money from the current fuel infrastructure and need to ensure the next infrastructure affords them similar benefits. Perhaps Genepax, the car from Japan that claims to run on water alone, can help.
NSG: 19 Jun 2008

You should have pointed out that converting natural gas to hydrogen is not a sustainable way to power a vehicle. There seem to be a lot of hype surrounding hydrogen, which has made people think of hydrogen as a clean fuel. It is not. At best, a hydrogen economy based on natural gas amounts to exporting the CO2 emissions problem. Look up Dr Ulf Bossel. He has some great views on how the new alternative energy economy can work, based on electrons and sustainable organic fuels.
Jesper: 18 Jun 2008

• Jobs Home
• Search
• Jobs by Email
• My Profile
• Agency A-Z
• Employer A-Z

Miscellanies

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Site Map
• Advertising
• T&C's
• Privacy Policy

• Where's e4engineering?
• Engineeringtalk - Engineering product news

Quick Search Form