How About Hydrogen?

Hydrogen-powered cars are on the cusp of commercial production. At least, that is what the likes of General Motors (GM), Daimler-Chrysler, and Audi want you to think. They are that optimistic. Even the U.S. president seems to think there is a chance that the cars are just around the corner and ready to assuage the peak oil crowd.

But even the most liberal estimates say no sooner than 2010, and that is only for commercial fleets (police cars and the like). These same folks creating the hopeful timeline put the cars in the driveways of consumers around 15 or 20 years from now. Not exactly tomorrow, but still not very far off.

Plus, GM has been mounting a pretty hefty lobbying campaign touting their HydroGen3 model. This is an updated model of the Opel that was on display at the 2000 Olympics.

How Does it Work?

At this point in time, there are two means for converting hydrogen into energy to propel a car. The first is the existing internal combustion engine. The engine undergoes slight alterations to use the hydrogen and the only waste emitted is water vapor. No carbon dioxide or other pollutants to worry about.

Of course, if it were only that simple. BMW is at the head of the class when it comes to this type of technology and they have had many successes. But the key right now is trying to figure out how to store enough hydrogen (it burns super fast) to make it truly viable for cars. It will be hard to sell a car to a consumer if they have to stop for fuel refills every 50 miles.

What BMW revealed at the Hanover World Fair is that if you liquefy hydrogen you can get more in a tank. But these tanks are seriously expensive, considering they need to hold something that when liquefied, makes Antarctica feel like Miami. Plus, even in this gaseous fuel-state the cars were still not achieving practical efficiency that could be marketed to the public, especially at the horrendous cost that would be passed on to the sticker price.

Fuel Cell Factor

The more popular option currently is the fuel cell. We have all seen the hydrogen fuel cell at work powering the fleet of space shuttles. But these are massive cells that could not even fit into a freight truck, let alone a small car. Obviously, size is an issue. But many companies, including GM with the HydroGen3, have overcome this primary obstacle.

The first thing to keep in mind is that a cell is not a battery. The cell does not simply store energy, it actually converts it―in this case it converts hydrogen into power to run your car.

The converted energy would power an electric motor. How does it do this? Reducing the complicated process to simple science, the hydrogen (one proton and one electron) is introduced to air, which carries oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen hook up to create water. But the reaction also causes electricity, which the fuel cell's coils capture and send forth to the motor.

One of the major benefits of the cell over the engine is the size of fuel tank it requires to hold the hydrogen fuel. BMW's engine incorporates a 37-gallon tank, which has enough hydrogen for a motorist to make it 186 miles before refueling.

On the other hand, the fuel cell powered HydroGen3 by GM contains only a 20-gallon tank, but can go about 250 miles before a fillup. Cost is the key, and right now the fuel cell is winning the fuel tank battle.

Sounds Good, But...

Hydrogen is the most prevalent element around, but it still needs to be extracted. Running out of it most likely would involve some rather grim prospects for the planet. However, where it is most accessible at the moment, in a form possible for use in a vehicle, is in traditional fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Obviously, this goes against the philosophy of reducing reliance on these types of fuels.

There is plenty of research and development currently in various stages that utilizes a process called "reforming." That is, harvesting hydrogen from common fossil fuels. Some of the prototypes have the transition actually going on in the vehicle.

Many engineers and scientists see this reforming process as the transition phase to ultimately using only water to retrieve the hydrogen. Others think this is nothing but a waste of time and money, and that other alternative fuels will prove to be more efficient and ready to use sooner.

Another major concern is how to distribute the hydrogen. After all, you see gasoline stations on every other corner in some towns, but where are the hydrogen centers? Well, nowhere―yet. This is an issue that still needs to be resolved.

Considering that alternatives like ethanol and bio-diesel are finding ways into gas stations, these types of fuels may receive more attention. But considering hydrogen is the one fuel that is possible to produce without any pollution (via water extraction), the costs of transferring these stations may be viable in the long run.

The last major concern is money. It costs an exorbitant amount for these fuel cells. So much, in fact, that right now it does not make any sense to try to achieve commercial production any time soon.

But, it was only a decade or so ago that the cell was too big. Now that has been solved. So what is to say that the costs will not ultimately come down, like the hybrid cars, which started out very expensive and have slowly inched down?

Despite the obstacles that may still be in the way, it's hard not to dream of a vehicle that can produce no pollution, and still get you where you need to go―on time and in comfort.