October 17, 2002
Hydrogen based cars take another step.
The
Guardian reports on
a demonstration by Ford Europe of a new model hydrogen car.
"The possible future of motoring was yesterday unveiled in a Cornish drizzle beside an organic cabbage patch at the Eden Project. It looked like a car, it felt like a car, it mostly drove like a car - but for the technologically minded it was as far away from today's toxic smell boxes as a space capsule is from a biplane." ...
"We're converting hydrogen straight to electricity, with the only bi-product being water. There are no noxious emissions, no carbon dioxide emissions, only water. The next stage is to ensure that the hydrogen is produced from renewable sources like wind and solar to make sure the production process is also emission free," said Peter Pether, director of environmental engineering at Ford Europe. "No one is looking yet at running cars on water. That's still a dream."
"For the moment the car is powered by a fuel cell system using hydrogen that has been mass produced by gas companies. Driving a simple electric motor, it produces no toxic emissions, can run 200 miles on a tank of hydrogen, reach 80 mph and is said to be twice as energy efficient as the majority of production line cars."
Still a long way from production models, but a mark of the continuing development. Along with a hydrogen-based engine itself, there remains a lot of work in the mass production of the hydrogen itself. But it's clear now that the technology works. The rest is just details. :)
"The race is now on between car makers to mass-produce hydrogen cars, says Ford. All the major league players are developing their own models and are gearing up for production around 2010."
