Electric vehicle, power generation

A fuel cell car, bus or truck is in essence an electric vehicle powered by a stack of hydrogen fueled cells that operates like a refuelable battery. A battery uses chemical energy from its component parts, while a fuel cell uses an electrochemical process to generate electricity and receives its energy from the hydrogen fuel and oxygen that are supplied to it. Like the plates in a battery, the fuel cell uses an anode and cathode, attached to these are wires for the flow of current. These two electrodes are thin and porous. 

We discussed fuel cells in Section 16.1. Electric vehicles powered by fuel cells may one day replace infernal combustion vehicles. Fuel cells are like batteries, but the reactants are constantly replenished. Normal batteries lose their voltage with use because the reactants are depleted as electrical current is drawn from the battery. In a fuel cell, the reactants—the fuel—consfantly flow through the battery, generating electrical current as they undergo a redox reaction. 

Electricity generation Electric lighting Electric melting Electric power Electric resistor furnaces Electric vehicles... 

The poor efficiencies of coal-fired power plants in 1896 (2.6 percent on average compared with over forty percent one hundred years later) prompted W. W. Jacques to invent the high temperature (500°C to 600°C [900°F to 1100°F]) fuel cell, and then build a lOO-cell battery to produce electricity from coal combustion. The battery operated intermittently for six months, but with diminishing performance, the carbon dioxide generated and present in the air reacted with and consumed its molten potassium hydroxide electrolyte. In 1910, E. Bauer substituted molten salts (e.g., carbonates, silicates, and borates) and used molten silver as the oxygen electrode. Numerous molten salt batteiy systems have since evolved to handle peak loads in electric power plants, and for electric vehicle propulsion. Of particular note is the sodium and nickel chloride couple in a molten chloroalumi-nate salt electrolyte for electric vehicle propulsion. One special feature is the use of a semi-permeable aluminum oxide ceramic separator to prevent lithium ions from diffusing to the sodium electrode, but still allow the opposing flow of sodium ions. 

See also Batteries Capital Investment Decisions Consumption Economically Efficient Energy Choices Electricity Electric Power, Generation of Faraday, Michael Fuel Cells Fuel Cell Vehicles Magnetism and Magnets Oersted, Hans Christian Tesla, Nikola. 

Most urban rail service is electric-powered and most urban bus service is diesel-powered, although diesel rail and electric bus operations do exist, as noted above. The efficiency and environmental impacts of electricity depend gi eatly on the source of electric power. Although electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions, generation of electricity can produce significant emissions that can travel long distances, Eor example, coal-powered electricity plants produce particulate emissions that travel halfway across North America, Urban buses also can be powered by a variety of alternative fuels. 

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) have attracted great interest as a primary power source for electric vehicles or residential co-generation systems. However, both the anode and cathode of PEFCs usually require platinum or its alloys as the catalyst, which have high activity at low operating temperatures (<100 °C). For large-scale commercialization, it is very important to reduce the amount of Pt used in fuel cells for reasons of cost and limited supply. 

Hyundai introduced its new i-Blue Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle. The i-Blue platform incorporates Hyundai s third-generation fuel cell technology and is powered by a 100-kW electrical engine and fuel cell stack. It is fueled with compressed hydrogen at 700 bar stored in a 115 liter tank. The i-Blue is capable of running more than 600-km per refueling stop and has a maximum speed of 165-km/h. 

There is now a great interest in developing different kinds of fuel cells with several applications (in addition to the first and most developed application in space programs) depending on their nominal power stationary electric power plants (lOOkW-lOMW), power train sources (20-200kW) for the electrical vehicle (bus, truck and individual car), electricity and heat co-generation for buildings and houses (5-20 kW), auxiliary power units (1-100 kW) for different uses (automobiles, aircraft, space launchers, space stations, uninterruptible power supply, remote power, etc.) and portable electronic devices (1-100 W), for example, cell phones, computers, camcorders [2, 3]. 

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