Hydrogen Powered Vehicles
30 Aug 2009
Economy is in a slump and gasoline is around four dollars for a gallon. Many have pledged to develop other vehicles that produce fewer emissions. They plan to do so while continuing to provide exceptional performance.
These hopefuls believe that hydrogen can and will deliver these results. Especially those that are knee deep in the “green” thing. They are beginning to realize that petroleum-based gasoline, which is used in a traditional internal combustion engines, produces hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide emissions.
The problem is that emissions are the result of this process. They also contribute greatly to environmental pollution. If a vehicle should be able to run on hydrogen rather than water the result would not be hydrocarbon or carbon dioxide emissions at all.
The result would be that there would be no emissions at all from the exhaust pipe and what does emerge from the exhaust, could actually be cleaner than the air coming into the engine. Designing a gasoline engine to burn hydrogen fuel has typically resulted in significantly lower power output – until now.
It was discovered that, when supercharged, hydrogen internal combustion engines can provide the same power as gasoline. They can still provide near-zero emissions. They will also deliver high performance and fuel economy.
For hydrogen to be widely accepted and used, an infrastructure of hydrogen refueling must be developed so vehicle owners can fill their tanks of hydrogen. Ford began this process in Detroit, Berlin and Hiroshima. As complex as it seems, it can be done!
As complex as it may seem, it can be done! The Ford Focus FCV is powered by hydrogen and has a fuel cell instead of a battery to produce electricity.
To define just a bit better how serious these efforts are, there was a second hydrogen station in Florida opened to work towards this goal. Actually, Florida opened two hydrogen fuel stations in six months in their commitment to exploring the potential of hydrogen. Hydrogen technology first began in the early 1990s.
Cars can and will, in the future run off water. The idea of people paying nearly and sometimes more than four dollars per gallon of gas is ridiculous.
In simple terms, a car can run on water. The engine itself is hydrogen. Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis. A certain voltage and frequency must be used to produce enough gas.
