Fuel Cells for Transport Applications

For more than three decades, the possible use of fuel cells as a power source for automotive transport applications has been explored widely. This scenario arose in connection with fuel supply problems during the energy crisis of the 1970s. Since then, it has been raised repeatedly in connection with air pollution in cities with rapidly growing motor car populations. These problems have caused a number of countries (and, notably, in the US state of California) to make it mandatory for car-makers to produce and sell a certain number of low or even zero-emission vehicles. Carmakers were thus forced to see how they could replace the internal combustion engines (ICEs) by other power units. 

Early in the twentieth century, cars powered by storage batteries were quite common. About 35% of all cars registered at that time in the United States were battery powered. They were more convenient than vehicles with ICEs that had to be cranked to start the engine. The situation took a turn when an electric starter was patented in 1912 and was then widely introduced. This meant the practically complete displacement of electric cars by today s traditional ICE vehicles. Today, battery-powered vehicles are used only for transport within production plants and for certain home deliveries, such as milk products and mail. 

When electric cars are used, one has practically no local emissions (other than hydrogen and oxygen while charging the batteries). The only ecological consequence of this transport mode is that the emission of greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is 

The most important alternative to traditional cars with ICEs is hybrid cars, in which an ICE is combined with an electric drive and a storage battery. The electric drive is used primarily in city traffic, and the ICE is used mainly on a highway under constant driving conditions, while simultaneously recharging the batteries. This type of cars combines advantages of traditional cars with those of electric vehicles, while minimizing the defects of each. 

Attention was also called to the fact that a definite changeover from traditional cars to electric cars with fuel cells would be associated with the need for a fundamental restructuring not only of the car industry and of the oil production and refining operations, but also of many other economic sectors related to them. It must be acknowledged that even today no solution is in sight for many questions raised in the mentioned article. 

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Teagan, W. P., Bentley, J., Barnett, B., Cost reductions of fuel cells for transport applications fuel processing options,... 

Fuels for Fuel Cells for Transportation Applications, Rod Borup, Lee Perry, Mike Inbody, Byron Morton, Troy Semelsberger and Jose Tafoya, AIChE Meeting, Spring 2002, New Orleans, LA, Los Alamos National Laboratory publication, LAUR-02-1207, March 2002. 

EERE s fuel cell research is focused on low temperature fuel cells for transportation applications and distributed energy systems. A short summary of the activities conducted in the focus areas follows ... 

Allison Gas Turbine Division, Research and Development of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells for Transportation Applications, Initial Conceptual Design, Report to U.S. DOE, Contract No. DE-AC02-90CH10435, Report No. EDR 16194, 1994. 

Prater, K. B. (1996). Solid Polymer Fuel Cells for Transport and Stationary Applications. Journal ot Power Sources 61 105-109. 

Preliminary Assessment of Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Transportation Power Applications," J. Hirschenhofer and J. White, Parsons Corporation, for ANUDOE, to be published, October 2000. 

Although it is difficult to determine the quantitative requirements of plate and plate materials appropriately for various fuel cells and different applications in a development phase, such a target would be helpful to direct the development effort and make necessary trade-offs. The cascaded performance requirement targets in 2010 and 2015 for bipolar plates of fuel cells in transportation applications were set by the U.S. DoE (Department of Energy) according to functions of the plate mentioned before and overall requirements of performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost of a stack, as shown in Table 5.1 [7]. The technical target in the DoE s multiyear research, development, and demonstration plan has been popularly and worldwide... 

Membrane Fuel Cells for Application in the Transport Sector. Project developed by INETI, aiming at securing a scientific and technological base necessary for the implementation of the study of membrane fuel cells for transportation. Associated budget 420,000. 

With regard to low temperature fuel cells (PEM), efforts must be guided to materials development (catalysts, electrodes, electrolytes, plates, seals, etc), fuel cells components development and its manufacturing methods, fuel cells prototypes development, systems based in fuel cells for transport, stationary and portable applications, and fuel processors. 

Another important potential application for fuel cells is in transportation (qv). Buses and cars powered by fuel cells or fuel cell—battery hybrids are being developed in North America and in Europe to meet zero-emission legislation introduced in California. The most promising type of fuel cell for this application is the SPFC, which uses platinum-on-carbon electrodes attached to a solid polymeric electrolyte. 

P. S. Chintawar, B. Bowers, C. O Brien, et ah, Advanced High Efficiency Quick Start Fuel Processor for Transportation Applications. Progress Report for Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies Program. U.S. Department of Energy 2003. 

Chalk, S.G., Miller, J.F., and Wagner, F.W. Challenges for fuel cells in transport applications. Journal of Power Sources, 2000, 86, 40. 

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