Old Ford Pinto......New Ford Focus...
Sorry, I can't help but wonder what it takes to keep the hydrogen in liquid form and the potential for tank rupture under impact.
Posted on 10/10/2002 2:11:29 AM PDT by MadIvan
If you are wondering how we will all get around once the oil wells run dry, you might take comfort from Ford's latest hydrogen fuel-cell electric Focus. It goes into limited service with commercial fleets in 2004.
It currently exists as a one-off prototype valued at about £2.65 million but while its price might make an insurance broker blush, its performance won't have the same effect. It has the kind of urge usually associated with a 2.5-litre Mondeo and its refinement is surprisingly convincing.
Appearing at this year's Challenge Bibendum, an event described by organiser Michelin as "a rolling roadshow for environmentally friendly vehicles", the Focus joined more than 50 other contestants ranging from a vegetable oil-fuelled VW Golf to a standard petrol-powered Alfa Romeo Brera. Inaugurated in 1998, the event ran from Los Angeles to Las Vegas last year, via the cloying dust and dry heat of the Nevada Desert (Motoring, Nov 10 2001). This year's soggier route - from Heidelberg to Paris - gave us a glimpse of what we can expect to be driving in future.
For many, the end-game is the fuel-cell engine that consumes hydrogen and air to generate electricity, with heat and water as by-products. Using pure hydrogen, fuel cells produce no planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and, assuming the hydrogen is also manufactured on a CO2 -free basis, guarantee a guilt-free trip.
But with the hydrogen economy a way off yet, short-term plans to reduce exhaust emissions in conventional cars include alternatives such as natural gas and bio-fuel made using rapeseed oil or even alcohol. The European Commission is advocating the use of these eco-blended fuels as a matter of urgency and this year's Challenge Bibendum reflected that. With so many different kinds available, however, life could become complicated. So far the most taxing decision car buyers face is whether to stick with the standard radio or splash out on a six-CD autochanger. Will we cope with choosing between ethyl-tertiary-butyl-ether or vegetable oil methyl esters? Probably not.
Hybrid entries, such as the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and new Honda Civic IMA (due in the UK next year), will play a role in cutting fuel consumption and CO2 but fuel-cell lobbyists insist the global car population is expanding so fast that CO2 levels will be back where they started in just a few years. For them, the fuel cell is the only answer and work is progressing quickly. In fact, the improvement in Ford's Focus FCV (fuel-cell vehicle) Bibendum entry beggars belief when you compare it with last year's version.
Accompanied by fuel-cell programme marketing manager (and former F15 pilot) Phil Chizek, test engineer Brian Gillespey and planning analyst Mark Sulek, the Focus endured a two-hour fuel consumption test around the Hockenheim grand prix circuit, near Heidelberg, and outpaced a production Toyota Prius in the process. Later, it completed a three-day trip from Hockenheim to Paris in the hands of sceptical hacks. "This is no hand-built mule cobbled together in a research lab," said Chizek. "It's the first prototype from the production programme and the first to be made using production processes and production tooling."
It also has a unique body made from aluminium, stainless steel and carbon-fibre, which saves 300kg compared with a standard Focus and partially offsets the extra weight of the new 902 fuel-cell engine from Canadian company Ballard.
From the driving seat, the Focus FCV starts silently and is a revelation compared with its predecessor. The irksome rasp of a hidden compressor forcing air into the fuel-cell engine has been all but replaced by subdued sighs and whispers of discreet aerospace technology when the throttle is squeezed. The electric motor characteristically underwrites its modest 88bhp with substantial torque of 170lb ft, roughly equivalent to that of a 2.5-litre V6 and easily enough to cope with the cut and thrust of Strasbourg's rush-hour traffic. Later, in gathering gloom and humming along at 60mph on the open road, the most intrusive sounds were the wind and tyres rolling over tarmac. But with a potential top speed of 115mph and the ability to accelerate to 62mph in 13.5 seconds, the performance of the Focus is already on a par with a conventional family car.
We stopped for fuel after 50 miles, in the informal surroundings of a French transport cafe car park. Pure compressed hydrogen was piped from a tanker into the Ford's boot-cramming, cylindrical fuel tank at a pressure of 5,000 pounds per square inch. Minutes later, we were on our way, carrying enough fuel to take the Focus 200 miles. Stringently tested 10,000psi tanks are in the offing and will double that range, so it almost seems as if the future has arrived sooner than expected.
Despite the huge strides being made, manufacturers agree that significant numbers of fuel-cell vehicles won't appear in private driveways until at least 2010. Given the rate of progress demonstrated by Ford in the past 12 months, however, that possibility becomes more believable by the minute.
No. You burn hydrogen to run hydrogen-powered autos. It mixes with oxygen (H20), and produces water as a byproduct.
The biggest problem won't be getting these vehicles by the Saudies, the problem will be getting these vehicles past the American oil companies. They'll block any real transition until they find a way to capture the profits from the new industry.
Old Ford Pinto......New Ford Focus...
Sorry, I can't help but wonder what it takes to keep the hydrogen in liquid form and the potential for tank rupture under impact.
I think Ford did something very similar to get around the powerful blacksmith lobby. The horseless carrage just kind of snuk up on them before they realized what was happening.
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Cold fusion has been replicated probably hundreds of times in as many laboratories by now.
The June 2/ 02 review in the UK Times SHOULD have been available in the USA, but it was not.
One might think that the US Navy work results would be reported in the US journals and periodicals,
but it was not.
OTOH, it is available for FReepers at:
How much equipment does it take to generate a few milliwatts of electric via cold fusion? This might be a fatal flaw. Same as it would cost trillions and trillions to make enough photo-voltaic cells and wind mills (turbines) to account for 10% of US electricity.
The beauty of natural gas and petroleum products is the equipment to utilize them is relatively cheap. Auto engines and turbines in electric power plants are relatively cheap.
Wrong. Gasification of the coal, separation of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Use the hydrogen in fuel cells, burn the carbon monoxide in combined cycle gas turbines. Cycle efficiency is far higher than 20%.
I agree. I hate being beholden to these overseas oil countries that are, at best, indifferent to us. I wish we would have more fuel efficient cars and houses and then learn to live off our own domestic energy resources. When I see a 90 pound person driving to work all by him or herself in an SUV the size of a Sherman tank, I just think there's room for some energy conservation and energy independence to be had. Houses could be made more efficient, too, and I'd be willing to do it if it made the US more energy independent.
I've been saying this for a while. We are now at war and will be for decades. We are not likely to convert overnight, but we could convert over 20 years.
And why wouldn't they profit. Who else has the capital, the engineers, the distribution network? Why dis they start calling themselves energy companies some years back?
[PDF]Coal - Bridge to the Hydrogen Economy
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... If cheap regenerative fuel cells & hydrogen generators can really be developed, the
"Holy Grail" hydrogen economy is quite interesting Expect coal gasification ...
www.engr.pitt.edu/pcc/2001plenary/ SimbeckCoaltoH2revised.pdf - Similar pages
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