Transcript Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars:
The Best Solution?
Tim Cahill and Ryan Saran
A Hydrogen car uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power.
Hydrogen cars covert hydrogen energy to
torque by two methods:
– Combustion
– Electrochemical Conversion
Combustion
A series of exothermic reactions between
fuel and an oxidant accompanied by heat
and/or light.
Hydrogen is burned by the engine.
Very similar to the way that gasoline is
used in traditional cars.
Electrochemical Conversion
Hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce
electricity and water.
More common among Hydrogen car
prototypes.
Hydrogen
Never found alone on Earth.
Easily extracted when in a compound.
Does not create energy, it carries it.
Hydrogen produced from natural gas only
has 50% of the original energy.
Benefits
The benefits of switching to hydrogen
vehicles clearly outweigh the
disadvantages.
Some advantages are:
– Zero Emission Technology
– Mileage
– Foreign Oil
Zero Emission Technology
Conventional fossil-fuel burning vehicles
produce all sorts of poisons such as:
– Carbon Dioxide
– Carbon Monoxide
– Nitrous Oxide
*** The only emission of a hydrogen fuel cell car
is water.
Foreign Oil
Developing a economy of mass produced
and effective hydrogen cars will reduce
our dependency on foreign oil.
Gas is clearly out of control and making
this transition seems like the only way to
get around at a reasonable price.
Problems
Although many advancements in hydrogen
technology has occurred, there still are
many problems such as:
– Fuel Cell Cost
– Freezing Conditions
– Storage
– Hydrogen Infrastructure
– Competition
Fuel Cell Cost
Currently, fuel cells are costly and fragile
We need to find a way to make
inexpensive and tough fuel cells
Many designs require rare substances like
platinum as the catalyst.
Fuel Cell Cost cont.
The catalyst can be contaminated by
impurities in the hydrogen supply
A nickel-tin catalyst is the most popular
alternative for this problem.
Freezing Conditions
Fuel cells produce water and utilize moist
air, especially during startup.
The current high for startup in freezing
conditions is 50% power achieved in 30
seconds at -20 °C.
Goal: 75% in 25 seconds at -15 °C .
Storage
Hydrogen is considered a “bulky” gas.
It is very difficult to store large amounts in
the liquid state and even harder in the gas
state.
Hydrogen Infrastructure
Must get rid of typical gasoline pump
stations and make them hydrogen pumps.
Hydrogen pump stations have already
begun to be produced in many places
around the world.
Hydrogen infrastructure cont.
In California, private and public initiatives
have been taken to build a “Hydrogen
Highway”
This has already begun production and
has a sufficient amount of pump stations
to support the travel of the latest hydrogen
car prototypes.
President Bush has already raised $2
billion in Hydrogen Highway research and
production.
Competition
There is not clear way to see which types
of green car will be primarily in the future.
However, there is a strong possibility that
all can be nearly perfect to the point where
they are mass produced and sold to the
public
Competition cont.
There are two leading solutions to the
conventional gasoline car excluding the
hydrogen car.
These the ICE Hybrid vehicle and the
Electric vehicle.
ICE/PHEV Hybrid Vehicle
ICE= Internal Combustion Engine
PHEV= Plug-in hybrid Electric Vehicle
Can be plugged into a electric grid and
achieve higher gas mileage and lower
emissions that other hybrids.
ICE/PHEV Hybrid Vehicle cont.
In a 2006 article in Scientific American,
argues that these vehicles will be standard
in the automobile industry, rather than
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars.
Have huge disadvantages in their cost,
weight, and size of battery.
ICE/PHEV Hybrid Vehicle cont.
Electric Cars
Commonly referred to as a EV, which
means Electric Vehicle.
Typically more fuel efficient that fuel cell
cars on a wheel-to-wheel basis.
This is the main reason that these cars are
gaining popularity.
Electric Cars cont.
Hydrogen cars are without a doubt the
future.
This is our problem to deal with and solve.
A hydrogen economy is just around the
bend. Will we be ready?