Hydrogen Cars Tangled in Red Tape Posted on January 9th, 2010
by Hydro Kevin at HydrogenCarsNow
Getting hydrogen cars on the road in mass quantities has been no easy task. There have been many bumps in the road, so to speak, along the way and this trend will continue.
Even though hydrogen cars have been around for a couple hundred years now, preceding the gasoline engine, people and governments seem to be largely uneducated about how the gas should be handled. And when a government doesn’t know how to handle something “unusual.” like hydrogen they tend to throw out a safety net of “red tape” to surround it.
Mike Strizki got a taste of this when he was trying to build his hydrogen-solar home in New Jersey. The different state agencies had no building or safety codes for handling hydrogen, so they bogged him down in red tape until they could catch up. At one point, Mr. Strizki said about one of the agencies in frustration, “They’re worried about the deer running into the tanks” referring to the 200 psi hydrogen tanks in his backyard.
But, the U. S. isn’t the only place where red tape is holding back hydrogen. In the UK, Revolve Technologies is finding out that current British law blocks the use of “new fuel” vehicles on the road. One branch of the UK government, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has promoted hydrogen vehicles as a clean alternative to those burning fossil fuels.
But, not all of the UK’s government agencies have been brought up to speed. According to Revolve’s technical director, Paul Turner, “We didn’t realise when we began the hydrogen programme that we were pioneering not just a new technology but new legislation too. We have worked closely with a number of government departments to identify key issues and help them to develop a new series of regulations which can accommodate the safe storage, handling, dispensing and use of this exciting new carbon free fuel.”
Well, the “new carbon free fuel” part isn’t exactly accurate as it has been around a couple of centuries as previously pointed out. But, what is new is the renewed interest in this old fuel for powering vehicles and the new rules and regulations that must be created to modernize how we think about alternative fuels.
In some ways, breaking the bureaucratic red tape will be like breaking one of the many finish lines that hydrogen cars have to burst through on the way towards mass commercialization.
AlumiFuel Power: Producing Hydrogen on Demand Posted on January 3rd, 2010
This is very cool. It’s a generator that’s been in the works since 2006. They are now going into production with this unique generator. It produces hydrogen on-demand in an environmentally-friendly way.
It uses aluminum, water, and chemical catalysts to create hydrogen at any location at any time. The cool thing is, it can be scaled to fit in something as small as a Ford Ranger pickup truck or scaled up to larger, industrial use. It uses the patented AlumiFuel to produce the hydrogen.
It works with a simple chemical reaction that occurs between aluminum and water. By adding some additives, they are able to increase the productivity and efficiency of the process. Two cartridges about the size of a large soup can are put into the reactor. One is full of aluminum powder and the other with the proprietary chemicals. Water (just about any type, from sea/brackish water to ordinary tap water) is added to a water tank and a hand pump is used to prime the cartridges (this could be done by electrical pump from a vehicle’s battery).
After the water is injected, the reactions begin taking place, generating about 1,000 liters of hydrogen in 20 minutes from 32oz of alumninum powder. That hydrogen could be used for any number of things from fuel cells to balloons.
Best of all, the AlumiFuel product and entirely non-toxic and fully recyclable. The tin cans the stuff comes in can be refilled or recycled and everything can be spilt, sent to the landfill, or recycled without worry of environmental consequences. Unlike fuels, natural gas, and even hydrogen itself.
Now think of this on a home scale (a generator in your garage to recharge your cars?) or on a larger scale at gas stations (to produce hydrogen for vehicles) or industrial uses (to power backup generators or more). Then you get an idea of how cool this could be. In the car it’s great, but a little awkward to set up and a lot of weight could be reduced from the vehicle’s profile were the generator to be in-garage. The generator is small enough that it could also be (possibly) scaled to fit in the trunk, truck bed, or on a small trailer for long trips too. The possibilities are huge.
Very cool and definitely something worth watching.
The press release for this technology now being in production is at this link.
Breakthroughs in Green Energy Tech 2009 – Part 4, Hydrogen Posted on December 23rd, 2009
H2. Fuel Cell Tea. Hydrogen, that is. In the last part of this series, we talked about wind power. Now, we’re going to talk about hydrogen (H2). It’s the most abundant element in the universe and the basis for a lot of scientific breakthroughs from bombs to balloons to electric cars. It’s 2 of the three parts that make up water, it’s flammable, it’s one of the lightest elements known, and it’s got a lot to offer our green future.
There’s a lot going on with technology surrounding hydrogen. Nearly every major car maker has a hydrogen prototype of one kind or another. Most are fuel cell vehicles, though Mazda has models that burn hydrogen. Besides that, though, there are a lot of other things going on with H2 research as well. Like motorcycles! :)
The Islands of Tonga (Kingdom of Tonga) are going to be producing hydrogen from deep water windmills. That’s pretty cool since it solves the power storage problem wind usually presents. They aren’t alone in thinking H2 is a great storage medium for renewable energy.
Greenland is doing the same, with a hydrogen storage system for their renewables underway. Another power plant using hydrogen is being built in New Mexico as well.
Another company (UTRC) is working on a hydrogen fuel cell powered helicopter that’s remote-controlled and capable of a lot of cool stuff. They’re not the only ones, as another company has a hydrogen fuel-cell airplane they’ve been toying with too. Oh, and don’t forget the Navy.
Another company is working on a nickel-hydrogen (rather than hydride) battery setup. This has a lot of promise in the electric automotive industry. Pretty darn cool there.
Speaking of automotives, there are a couple of hydrogen fuel cell big rigs being worked on, besides the usual electrics. Most notably the Vision Industries trucks in Los Angeles. How about tractors? Yep, NDSU is working on hdyrogen tractors and New Holland has a hydrogen fuel-cell tractor prototype too!
How about a micro fuel-cell for charging the batteries on your gadgets? Yep, Toshiba’s on that.
Finally, last but not least, we have the most innovative H2 using product of the year… the prototype hydrogen fuel-cell car that runs on pee!
Yep, hell of a year for hydrogen!
That wraps it up for my series of breakthroughs this year. What’d you think?
Producing Hydrogen from Water Will Not Suck the Lakes Dry Posted on December 6th, 2009
This blog that I’m writing today is partly in reaction to a post that appeared insustainablog titled, “Will Hydrogen Power Suck the Lakes Dry?” and partly because this is one of the most frequently asked questions I get. For some reason, people think that going to a hydrogen based economy will cause a water shortage.
According to the National Hydrogen Association, “Conversion of the current U.S. light-duty fleet (some 230 million vehicles) to fuel cell vehicles would require about 110 billion gallons of water / year to supply the needed hydrogen.
“For comparison, the U.S. uses about 300 billion gallons of water/year for the production of gasoline, about three times the amount needed for hydrogen. Domestic personal water use in the United States is about 4800 billion gallons/year.”
So, no, creating hydrogen for cars or using hydrogen in power plants will not suck the oceans, lakes and rivers dry. But, the estimates of water usage for hydrogen production could actually be lower than projected.
I’ve talked before about whether the steam emissions from hydrogen cars will contribute to greenhouse gases. In the same blog post I talked about how research was underway to recycle this steam back into the fuel cell.
There are also a number of patents such as this one that talks about water recycling in fuel cell systems. On a larger scale at hydrogen power plants, there are alsopatents for closed loop and semi closed loop systems for recycling water.
The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) also lists four different methods for high temperature steam recycling at hydrogen power plants. If hydrogen were created at the pump through electrolysis and fuel cell cars captured and stored extra water from the fuel cell reaction, this could be dispensed right back at the hydrogen stations for recreation of compressed H2 gas.
As people learn more about hydrogen, naturally questions and especially fears arise. Fears of hydrogen cars blowing up like atomic bombs or fears of either running out of water or water emitted from fuel cells contributing to greenhouse gases are common. But as these fears are dispelled many people come to see that hydrogen is the clean, green fuel of the future that will solve many environmental problems along with our dependence on foreign fossil fuels.
The Vision Motors Cheetah Hydrogen-Powered Supercar Posted on October 3rd, 2009
This is a sweet ride. It’s a hydrogen fuel-cell supercar which accelerates from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds. Yes, I said 2.9 seconds. Wear a G-suit. That’s a full second faster than the Tesla Roadster.
So far, I have seen no reports of this car being driven or shown publicly, though Vision Motors is saying it will be in limited production next year. It’s called the Cheetah Vision, not to be confused with 50 Cent’s new film company of the same name. I found it while reading a press release on the company’s new deal with Freightliner for their h/f-c trucks (that’ll be another post).
The body is reminiscent of a Lamborghini or maybe a Corvette, but I can’t place exactly what model. Regardless, it is pretty wicked looking. Ya, I said “wicked.” I realize it dates me.
Here’s some specs from Vision:
- Vision Hydrogen Drive (plug-in hydrogen fuel-cell hybrid)
- 2,640 curb weight
- Carries 4.8kg of gaseous hydrogen
- Range of 350 miles (estimated)
- 425 horsepower output with 1,350lb ft torque
- 0-60 in 2.9 seconds (estimated)
