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.
It just doesn't compute to have a farmer grow crops that end up as ethanol for gas engines or vegetable oil to power diesel engines.
You Sir, are so right on. If my wife and I make it back to London next summer I would love to get to meet you in person.
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perpetual motion?
bullshit.
I'm sorry, I take that back- ghuqing bullshit.
Hear, hear! We're working on it. FCV won't be practical consumer vehicles for a few years, and after that then they will likely be "city cars," but they are coming. I can't wait until America's and the UK's petroleum needs can be met through domestic sources.
I work for a fuel cell company in the catalyst development department. AS you know, the fuel cell is "electrolysis in reverse," where gaseous hydrogen and oxygen are combined, and form water as well as electrical energy. The beauty is that there are no moving parts and it's a very simple powerplant - just turn on the gases and the voltage shoots up.
Ignore the naysayers who talk about "coffins" and poist pictures of the Hindenburg. They represent the buggy-whip industry at best, and are willing collaborators in our enslavement to Arab petroleum at worst.
How can you ? Arent we talking about 10000 psi tanks of H2 ?? Hydrogen gas has a huge explosive range. I wouldnt want to be caught in a rear end in one of those!
'Fraid not.
Hate to rain on your parade, but you're confusing some thermodynamics here. You go and build one first and then we'll talk about it.
yes, if it's confined- if the tank ruptures, and the gas escapes but is not confined, it would be displaced by the heavier atmospheric gasses, and rise, unlike gasoline, which can pool on the ground. 'course if the accident occurs in an underground parking garage, you might have a problem...
One concern might be, however, a relatively small leak that ignites, creating a jet of flame that couldn't be seen in daylight..
No, usually a full lab/industrial cylinder of H2 only runs about 2500 psi. Portable bottles would run much lower pressures, especially if they were well-insulated cryogenic (liquid hydrogen) storage.
The danger inherent in hydrogen is much less than that of gasoline. Hydrogen, being a gas and lighter than air, will rise away from a leak, and dissipate into the atmosphere. Gasoline, on the other hand, pools and collects and concentrates, from leaks. Hydrogen's flame has a low emissivity compared to gasoline flames, meaning that one can get much closer to a hydrogen flame and not suffer any heat injury than one could get to a gasoline fire.
Hydrogen is already in wide use, daily, around the world in industrial settings. It's a material to be respected, surely, but procedures for safe handling of hydrogen have long been established and are well-tested.
And the Hindenburg? Two-thirds of the people aboard walked away.
DMFCs are not doing as well as HFCs. You lose too much, thermodynamically, in dealing with the CO - it poisons the catalyst extremely well! Work continues apace, however...
I also heard that the main fire itself was fueled by the aircraft skin, not the hydrogen.
I saw a demonstration of just how explosive and deadly GASOLINE was.. it was very scary, they compared it to dynamite.
Kinda harsh, but I agree with you 100%....
That's a good point and needs to be addressed:
So, to answer your question, we could burn oil to get the power, but we wouldn't have to. And the overall reliance on oil could be significantly less.
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