Free hydrogen car plans. Maybe...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8103106.stm


Cheers,
James

As soon as there are efficient hydrogeon fuel cells and a decent source of the fuel... I will be building an electric car....

But until then....


LOL!

Wonder how much healf and sfaty there is involved... I guess hydrogeon would make a big bang!

A quick google shows you can but fuel cells off the shelf already:
linky
Serious money for only 3kw, but given time and demand, the price will drop and power will rise to a level where it could be feasible for us home builders to produce our own fuel cell cars.

HOW MUCH!!!


Seriously.. they cant be that complicated!!


Anyone have any plans etc

I don't think they are that complicated at all. If you look at the rest of the site, it looks like you can buy all the parts.
The current prices reflect the R&D effort and small numbers built.
Once mass production kicks in........

[Edited on 17/6/09 by bilbo]

I can see it now.. popping into my local scrappy any buying a complete fuel cell


How dangerous is the technology though compared to a piston engine?

quote:

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Originally posted by tegwin
Wonder how much healf and sfaty there is involved... I guess hydrogeon would make a big bang!

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quote:

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remember high school chemistry? burning hydrogen in a test tube and that awesome squeak it made? lol

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my crazy stereotypical grammar boys school headmaster used to do that all the time.

He even demonstrated the thermite reaction!

On my first day of alevels he appeared with an unmarked bottle of liquid and asked us to perform a range of experiments before announcing it was benzene. I commented that I wasn't sure we were allowed to work with it directly in schools and he proceded to wash his hands with it!

LOL!! benzine!!

And yes, we got a demosntration of the thermic reaction. 2kg of molten iron on the grass outside the class room!!

So is it possible to convert a standard petrol engine to run on Hydrogen?
I'm guessing it would be a similar converting to LPG? Or is it much more complicated and you end up rusting the engine shut?
I know it's not the most efficient way of doing things, but I'm just planning ahead for when all the petrol pumps start being replaced with hydrogen.

no, it doesnt work like that at all

also... hydrogen wont rust your engine.

No, but the extremely hot water vapour produced will.

quote:

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Originally posted by Confused but excited.
No, but the extremely hot water vapour produced will.

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trouble inevitably comes when one questions where the hydrogen comes from initially - most hydrogen is currently produced by splitting hydrocarbon fuels (ie petrol diesel etc) which are finite anyway. When these run out (although not for a while i dont think) the next way of producing it would be from electricity, but where does that come from?

Also hydrocarbons will become more expensive as they become harder to find, so that will push up to cost of hydrogen too...

essentially;

CH4 + H2O -> CO + 3 H2

so the steam reforming of the methane produces carbon monoxide as well! partly dealt with by the next process;

CO + H2O -> CO2 + H2

but that then produces CO2 lol

This is how we get bulk hydrogen atm


[Edited on 17/6/09 by hellbent345]

they only start with methane as its an easier reaction than hydrolysis. If we do achieve energy sustainability from either sun source or nuclear source processes, then hydrolysis is the natural sustainable choice for hydrogen production.

A fuel cell is a very different concept to a petrol engine. With existing IC engines you take an existing energy source (ie HCs) and produce energy on demand. The problem facing humanity is that we need to achieve energy sustainability. The idea of a hydrogen fuel cell isnt to produce energy, ie by consuming a high energy fuel (ie methane in your example - this is essentially the same concept as a petrol engine), but as a means of STORING energy in a VERY compact fashion (compared to batteries etc) and liberating it in a gentle and clean manner.