Electrochemically Powered Cars

Emissions of NO, CO, and S02 in the fuel cell (steam re-former) scheme would be zero, whereas for battery-powered cars, the electricity-producing plants would emit these pollutants in substantial quantities. 14The fuel cell-electric motor combination is termed the electrochemical engine. ... 

The initiatives taken by these companies would have been delayed except for the technical advances made by a single company, the importance of which became apparent only in the 1990s the Ballard Company of Vancouver, British Columbia, and research led by D. P. Wilkinson. German, Japanese, and finally U.S. automakers turned to this company (which had demonstrated a full-sized electrochemically powered bus in 1995) for the development of fuel cells for their cars. 

The other half of electrochemistry, electrodics, in vol. 2 has surpassed ionics in its rate of growth and is coming into use in enterprises such as the auto industry, to obtain electrochemical power sources for transportation. Such a change in the way we power our cars is seen by many as the only way to avoid the planetary warming caused by the COj emitted by internal combustion engines. 

This technology has even produced hybrid and electric vehicles that operate on battery power and can convert the mechanical energy of braking into stored electrochemical power to recharge and run the car continuously. 

A cell of this type weighing about 500 pounds has been designed for space vehicles, but this fuel cell is not practical enough for general use as a source of portable power. However, current research on portable electrochemical power is now proceeding at a rapid pace. In fact, cars powered by fuel cells are now being tested on the streets. 

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. 

Much of the recent research in solid state chemistry is related to the ionic conductivity properties of solids, and new electrochemical cells and devices are being developed that contain solid, instead of liquid, electrolytes. Solid-state batteries are potentially useful because they can perform over a wide temperature range, they have a long shelf life, it is possible to make them very small, and they are spill-proof We use batteries all the time—to start cars, in toys, watches, cardiac pacemakers, and so on. Increasingly we need lightweight, small but powerful batteries for a variety of uses such as computer memory chips, laptop computers, and mobile phones. Once a primary battery has discharged, the reaction cannot be reversed and it has to be thrown away, so there is also interest in solid electrolytes in the production of secondary or storage batteries, which are reversible because once the chemical reaction has taken place the reactant concentrations can be... 

The pollution-free production of electricity within electrochemical generators is a major step forward in technology. In the twenty-first century, transportation—cars, trains, and ships—will all be driven by electric motors powered by electricity derived from fuel cells (Chapter 13). 

Now let the reasons for this insistence on the study of the steady state of an electrode reaction be expounded. The main reason is simply that electrochemical reactions are useful at the steady state. It is most desirable for the current density in a reactor carrying out some organic synthesis to remain constant over hours or days whde the synthesis is going on. It would not be desirable in a fuel cell producing power to run a car if the rate of the electrochemical reaction in it—hence the power output and thus the speed of the car—varied out of control of the driver. 

Zinc-air modules for EV application are under development at the Edison company in Italy and by the Electric Fuel Ltd in Israel. In this case, the battery recharge also includes a mechanical step, namely the removal and replacement of the spent zinc electrodes. The actual electrochemical recharging process is carried out in a remote station. The proposed application to passenger vehicles considers the construction of specific stations where the removal and replacement of the spent zinc electrode pack is carried out automatically (Fig. 9.19). Energy and power densities of the order of 200 Wh/kg and 100 W/kg, respectively, and long cyclability, which may provide the car with a 300 km range and a... 

Batteries are electrochemical cells. Where would we be without batteries A battery is needed to start a car. Batteries power flashlights, move toys, and make watches work. Jewelry with lightbulb designs can use tiny batteries. A battery provides an electric current through oxidation-reduction reactions in which the flow of electrons is directed through a wire. The force of the electrons through the wire is measured in volts. 

Since 1803, when Ritter invented the voltaic pile, rechargeable batteries have been known to exist [5]. The big breakthrough came in 1859, when Plante introduced the lead-acid battery [6]. Until today, this kind of secondary battery has been the most well-known electrochemical device. It is omnipresent in every car as a starter battery and also plays an important role in stationary energy storage (e.g. for uninterruptable power supplies). 

Fuel-cell technology allows the direct conversion of chemical energy into electricity [7]. The fuel cell is an electrochemical reactor where the catalyst systems are an important component. Among the wide-ranging applications of fuel cells are low-emission transport systems, stationary power stations, and combined heat and power sources. The classical studies were carried out in the early 1900s, and major innovations and improvements have been achieved over the last few years. The first new electric cars are expected to roll onto the market around the year 2005, but... 

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