Hydrogen powered vehicles

The properties of a high heat of combustion and a high specific heat as well as the clean combustion product has made hydrogen very attractive to be used as a fuel in mobile applications. 

Electronically regulated injection valve for power control 

Vacuum -insulated valve block for LH2 refueling / retrieval 

Computationally assisted engine development is conducted focusing on optimization of fuel efficiency and low emissions with respect to operating conditions and combustion chamber geometry. Fluid dynamics in lean premixed combustion are examined for complete oxidation of the fuel in a safe and clean way [24]. 

Ground-based vehicles with PEM fuel cell systems are foreseen to appear on the market by the year 2004. Various prototype cars and buses have been presented already, the first in the USA in 1991 (see section 9.5,2.). The critical aspect is the on-board storage of the hydrogen fuel which can be provided as compressed gas, cryogen, or metal hydride. 

---

A number of experimental hydrogen-powered vehicles have been built, dating back to the 1930s. Beginning in the early 1990s, zero-emission-vehicle regulations (enacted first m California and later in Massachusetts and New York) and government... 

In the USA, the Clean Air Act of 1970 established air-quality standards for six major pollutants particulate matter, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and photochemical oxidants. It also set standards for automobile emissions - the major source of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides. An overview of the major standards is given in Tab. 10.2. The levels of, for example, the European Union (1996) are easily achieved with the present catalysts. The more challenging standards, up to those for the ultralow emission vehicle, are within reach, but zero-emission will probably only be attainable for a hydrogen-powered vehicle. 

Several models of HICE vehicles have been demonstrated and few are commercially available [25,28,33,38]. However, hydrogen-powered vehicles will not be available to common public until there is an adequate refueling infrastructure and trained technicians to repair and maintain these vehicles. The design of each hydrogen-powered vehicle may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model. One model may be simple in design... 

Considering both storage and refueling technologies, the most promising short-term alternative is probably compressed gas storage [53,55]. Prototype hydrogen-powered vehicles... 

The transition to hydrogen-powered vehicles is an important step the nation can take towards preserving American transportation freedoms and strengthening U.S. energy security. 

GM and Federal Express announced a partnership where the HydroGen3 fuel cell vehicle will be used by Federal Express in the first commercial use of a fuel cell vehicle in Japan. FedEx will use the HydroGen3 vehicle during one year for regular delivery services in two downtown districts of Tokyo. GM also launched a Washington-based fleet of hydrogen-powered vehicles. 

Department of Energy s National Hydrogen Storage Project progress towards meeting hydrogen-powered vehicle requirements. Catalysis Today, 120 (3 1), 246-256. 

Thus, metal hydrides provide a safe method for storing fuel in hydrogen-powered vehicles. Charging and discharging of the hydride tanks is a process that can be repeated an indefinite number of times provided that the hydride material does not become contaminated. 

Evaluate and validate, under real-world and heavy-load conditions, emerging multi-fuel energy concepts for deployment of hydrogen-powered vehicles in suburban and rural regions. 

A reaction for the production of hydrogen gas suitable for use in a hydrogen-powered vehicle is given below. What volume of H2 can be prepared from 1.00 kg CaH2 (the final conditions are 25°C and 1 atm) ... 

We need continued expansion of r d into key technologies. We also need pilot projects in order to gain practical experience with hydrogen-powered vehicles. In this country, pilots should be focused less on trying to speed early deployment of large numbers of fuel cell vehicles and more on trying to answer the key questions about storage, infrastructure, safety, and the like. 

To put some additional context around demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles, their biggest competitor in the near-term is likely to come from hybrid (gas-electric powered) vehicles. Unlike hydrogen-powered vehicles, hybrid vehicles are priced comparably to gas-only powered vehicles, and already are gaining widespread acceptance in the consumer automotive market. However, hybrids face their own challenges—in the U.S., they are expected to account for only 20 percent of the total car market in five years.29... 

Hydrogen-powered vehicles also face potential competition from the biomass segment of the energy industry, specifically ethanol. We will go into more detail about the growth of the use of ethanol as an automotive fuel in the biomass section of this report, but, like hybrids, ethanol-powered vehicles are an established technology that faces fewer hurdles to acceptance than those powered by hydrogen. 

In hydrogen-powered vehicles, liquid hydrogen tends to boil off while the vehicle is parked for longer periods of time. 

---