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What Happened To Hydrogen-Powered Cars?
By JEREMY SHERE
Posted May 28, 2010
What Happened To Hydrogen-Powered Cars? | A Moment of Science - Indiana Public Media
I just heard Glenn Beck extol the virtues of Hydrogen Cars and then attribute it's demise to Government chicanery involving the financial 'Bailout.'
I was screaming at the radio that Hydrogen Cars are impractical until some way is found to more efficiently, more economically separate the hydrogen from the (typically) oxygen to form electricity.
Will someone please spread the news to everyone that Hydrogen Cars cost more to fuel than gasoline powered cars because of the cost of creating usable hydrogen.
That makes these cars impractical.
Until an improved process makes it more efficient Hydrogen Propulsion will remain, as the article says, "a long range solution."
By JEREMY SHERE
Posted May 28, 2010
Here is a BMW hydrogen-powered car. Hydrogen is not a very popular choice to power cars because of cost and efficiency.
You may remember, a few years back, hearing a lot about hydrogen fuel cells.
They run on hydrogen and emit only water vapor, and were going to revolutionize the auto industry. By now, we were all supposed to be driving fuel cell powered cars and using devices and appliances running on hydrogen.
So what happened?
The first thing to understand is that fuel cells work. Theyre a proven technology. Pump pure hydrogen into a fuel cell and, sure enough, it will produce clean, dependable electricity.
But although hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, here on Earth its not easy to come by in a pure state. Hydrogen is usually hooked up with some other element, like oxygen. To pry hydrogen atoms loose takes energyusually electricity created in power plants that burn coal or other fossil fuels, and add to global warming.
Hydrogen Pumps
The second challenge is that there are relatively few filling stations equipped with hydrogen pumps. According to The National Hydrogen Association, as of 2008 there were sixty-one hydrogen fueling stations in the U.S. So even if scientists find a way to produce and store hydrogen cheaply, it would still take many years to build enough infrastructure to service millions of fuel cell powered cars.
Today, as gas electric hybrids sell in greater numbers, and electric plug in cars begin to hit the market, scientists keep working on hydrogen technologies. So hydrogen may still be an important part of the clean energy puzzle. But its a long range solution.
What Happened To Hydrogen-Powered Cars? | A Moment of Science - Indiana Public Media
I just heard Glenn Beck extol the virtues of Hydrogen Cars and then attribute it's demise to Government chicanery involving the financial 'Bailout.'
I was screaming at the radio that Hydrogen Cars are impractical until some way is found to more efficiently, more economically separate the hydrogen from the (typically) oxygen to form electricity.
Will someone please spread the news to everyone that Hydrogen Cars cost more to fuel than gasoline powered cars because of the cost of creating usable hydrogen.
That makes these cars impractical.
Until an improved process makes it more efficient Hydrogen Propulsion will remain, as the article says, "a long range solution."