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hydrogen posts

Hydrogen-powered Riversimple Urban Car unveiled, makes your hybrid green with envy

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 16th 2009 at 7:53AM

Smug about your 65 mpg Prius potential? Don't be. A little car from up-start Riversimple looks set to deliver the equivalent of 300 mpg, running on hydrogen and utilizing a network of small fuel cells to power four motors, one per wheel. The recently unveiled prototype manages 240 miles on just 2.2 lbs of hydrogen, has a top speed of 50 mph, seats two (reasonably) comfortably, and looks a little like a smiling, new-age Citroen 2CV -- but will hopefully be a more enjoyable to drive. That considerable range means that the relative lack of hydrogen distribution stations is less of a problem (until you can get one for your garage), and an estimated monthly lease price of just £200 (about $330) makes it potentially affordable. The only question now is availability of the cars themselves, and since nobody's talking about that you needn't worry about delaying that appointment with your local Toyota dealer.

[Via TG Daily]

Video: Navy UAV uses hydrogen fuel cells for greener surveillance

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Apr 17th 2009 at 6:19PM

It sure is nice to see that the military is paying attention to the environment, always on the lookout for greener ways to spy on people, foreign and domestic. Ion Tiger, for instance, is an unmanned vehicle being cooked up at the Naval Research Laboratory that incorporates a hydrogen fuel cell, offering many improvements on earlier battery powered designs -- including a greater range (up to seven times further than that of current designs), heavier payloads, smaller size, reduced noise, a low heat signature, and zero emissions. The Office of Naval Research is making much of the possible civilian potentials for this technology, pointing out that research contributes "directly to solving some of the same technology challenges faced at the national level," but we know the truth: the US military is in cahoots with Greenpeace. You heard it here first, folks. Video after the break.

[Via PhysOrg]

Continue reading Video: Navy UAV uses hydrogen fuel cells for greener surveillance

Mazda's hybrid hydrogen vehicles to hit the streets this year

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Mar 30th 2009 at 11:10PM

It looks like the world's first rotary hydrogen vehicle will soon be available for lease, courtesy of Mazda. True to its nature as a hybrid, the Premacy Hydrogen RE relies on a hydrogen rotary engine to create the electricity that powers the motor. The system is said to boost the fuel range of the vehicle to around 125 miles, twice the range of the RX-8 Hydrogen RE, and maximum output is 110 kilowatts. We look forward to seeing the cars start rolling off the lots and into the hands of local authorities and energy-related companies this year. Finally, it looks like you'll be able to put that hydrogen generator you installed in the garage to good use.

Toyota's hydrogen-powered FCHV gets inspected

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 13th 2009 at 12:28PM

Just in case you haven't heard enough in regard to green automobiles today, Toyota's FCHV has been broken down good fashion and photographed by our pals at AutoblogGreen. The hydrogen-powered SUV sports a pretty sophisticated get-up-and-go system, which is comprised of four separate storage tanks in order to keep the hydrogen compressed to 10,000psi. Once the compressed gas leaves those tanks, it passes through regulators that "reduce the pressure to something the PEM fuel cell stack can process." The bottom line? This thing can traverse some 350 miles on a fresh fill. If your ears just perked up, give the read link a visit to get yourself more acquainted.

Hydrogen-powered Honda FCX Clarity, giant ASIMO to lead Rose Parade

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 24th 2008 at 2:09AM

For the first time ever (yes, ever!), this year's Rose Parade in Pasadena, California will be headed up by a hydrogen-powered vehicle. Honda's fuel cell-equipped FCX Clarity will lead the 120th parade, and the pace car will be followed by the Super Cub motorcycle -- the first model sold in the United States. As fancy as these two are, it's the ASIMO that'll undoubtedly steal the show, and yes, we're talking about the 49-foot iteration we spotted a few days back. Catch Honda's trio riding high on January 1 at 8:00AM PST; after that, it's time to place your bets between USC and Penn State.

Mercedes hedges alt-fuel bets with BlueZero electric, hydrogen, and hybrid models

by Tim Stevens, posted Dec 17th 2008 at 9:49AM

When everyone was going hybrid, taking baby-steps toward an alternative-fueled future, Mercedes jumped into its prototype Hydrogen-powered machines and buzzed off toward the horizon. Now, perhaps realizing that it moved a bit too quickly for the distribution infrastructure to keep up, the company seems to be pulling back a bit, introducing the BlueZERO line of autos that all share the same shell -- pictured above looking good at its most flattering angle, but not so hot after the break. The series will encompass three cars: the fully-electric E-CELL (possibly featuring Tesla batteries), with a 120 mile range; the hydrogen-powered F-CELL, with a 248 mile range; and the hybrid E-CELL PLUS that, like the Volt, will carry a gasoline engine to recharge the batteries and provide up to 370 miles of non-stop motoring (10 more than Chevy's offering). The trio are set to release in 2010, which should be a historic year for the auto industry... assuming we still have an auto industry in 2010.

Continue reading Mercedes hedges alt-fuel bets with BlueZero electric, hydrogen, and hybrid models

Korean tech makes hydrogen up to 30 times cheaper to produce -- clean energy solved?

by Thomas Ricker, posted Oct 20th 2008 at 5:55AM

With oil prices in free-fall and the world's economies in the toilet, short-sighted governments and C02-denying GM execs will undoubtedly defer priority given to clean energies in the next round of fiscal budgets. Too bad, because Korea's S&P Energy Research Institute has just issued a press release about a new discovery it claims puts the era of clean energy within reach. Dr. Sen Kim claims to have achieved the separation of Hydrogen using just 0.1kwh of energy compared to the traditional 4 - 4.5kwh required using the ol' electrolytic method. Dr. Kim postulates that "manufacturing the H2 by our method will lower the cost of H2 as much as 20 - 30 times" compared to electrolytic H2. That makes SPERI's method suitable for H2 fuel production from say, an in-home hydrogen fueling station. So is this the solution to all of our clean energy concerns? Perhaps, but we've heard these economical hydrogen-generation claims before. Let's wait for the claim to be more thoroughly vetted by bigger brains than our own before getting too hopeful.

US Army turns to toy company to develop new weapon

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 5:38PM

We're not quite sure how the pitch session went with this one, but it looks like the US Army was so impressed by toymaker Lund and Company's Hydrogen Fuel Rocket that it decided to recruit the company to build a decidedly more lethal version of it. The new system, dubbed the Variable Velocity Weapon System, will apparently be able to be switched between lethal and non-lethal modes, and be loaded with rubber bullets, actual bullets, or other projectiles, which are fired by mixing a liquid or gaseous fuel with air in a combustion chamber. What's more, the company says that the technology could be applied to any size weapon from a "handgun to a Howitzer," and it says a demonstration version could be ready in as little as six months, with full production possible within 18 months, pending approval.

[Via Danger Room]

ITM Power shows off in-home hydrogen fueling station

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 4:38PM

Hydrogen cars may not be quite as in favor as hybrids or all-electrics these days, but ITM Power looks to be doing its best to at least make 'em a bit more convenient, with it now showing off a re-fueling station that it says could be installed in the home. Like similar systems, this one makes use of an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen gas from water and electricity, which can also be converted back into electricity with the aid of an internal combustion generator to provide power to the house. You'll only be able to produce enough gas overnight to travel about 25 miles, however, but the company (like so many others) foresees higher-pressure refueling units being installed in public places, which'd be able to provide enough gas to travel 100 miles. While there's no firm word on a release for the home unit, ITM says it "could" be commercially available as soon as this year, and it says the price could eventually get down to around £2,000 (or about $4,000) if they're mass produced.

Honda FCX Clarity set to enter limited production and sale

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 16th 2008 at 10:56AM

If you're in the market for a fuel efficient car, but you've been holding out for something a little more advanced than the Prius -- your dreams may have just been answered. Honda announced today that it would begin producing limited quantities of its FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles for sale in the US and Japan over the next few years. According to the automaker, it plans to offer around 200 of the zero-emission cars in the next three years, with a few dozen models expected on the road this year leased at around $600 a month. Said John Mendel, a senior vice president at Honda, "It's an especially significant day for American Honda as we plant firm footsteps toward the mainstreaming of fuel cell cars." Now all they have to do is get more than 3 fueling stations out there and we'll be all set.

Read - Honda rolls out fuel cell car
Read - Honda starts producing next-generation fuel cell car

Samsung aiming for water-powered cellphones by 2010

by Nilay Patel, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 6:13PM

We've seen quite a few prototype fuel-cell powered mobile devices, but Samsung's upping the ante by predicting that we'll all be running our phones on water by 2010. The company says it's developed a method to generate hydrogen by exposing water to metal, but the details are a little shaky -- we're guessing it's similar to the system used in the HydroPak generator, but it's hard to tell. Still, we've got no reason to doubt Samsung's engineers, who say the system currently provides about 10 hours of use, or about five days of average cell usage, and will eventually allow users to simply top off and go. That's every traveler's dream -- let's get this to market, Sammy.

First manned flight using hydrogen battery doesn't cause rain, only tears

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 4th 2008 at 8:28AM

You're looking at the world's first manned flight powered by a hydrogen battery. Boeing's prop-driven aircraft set the lone pilot aloft for about 20 minutes at a speed of 100-kilometres (62 miles) an hour at an altitude of about 1,000 meters. The 800-kilogram (1,760-pound) craft with a 16.3-meter (51-foot) wingspan is capable of flying for about 45 minutes under the power of its hydrogen fuel cells -- the airplane's batteries provided an additional boost for takeoff. The fuel cells harvest the energy produced by the chemical transformation of hydrogen and oxygen into water -- that makes the craft clean as well as near silent. Unfortunately, the technology is nowhere near the point of powering commercial aircraft. At best, the fuel-cells could act as a secondary power source... in another 20 years.

QuantumSphere speaks of homemade hydrogen

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 7th 2008 at 4:59PM

We'll be honest, we're not getting ourselves all riled up about this just yet -- after all, it's not like QuantumSphere is the first (nor the last) company to teeter on announcing a legitimate "solution" to ditching gasoline. Nevertheless, said startup has reportedly figured out a way to "make hydrogen at home from distilled water and ultimately bring the cost of hydrogen fuel cells in line with that of fossil fuels." More specifically, the outfit claims to have "perfected the manufacture of highly reactive catalytic nanoparticle coatings that could up the efficiency of electrolysis, the technique that generates hydrogen from water." Unbelievable though that may sound, it's still looking to unveil a battery using its own technology later this year, so we'll just wait and see what becomes of that initiative before bidding gas stations adieu for good.

[Via Autoblog, thanks Sean]

New solar cell cuts out the middle man, harvests hydrogen from water

by Paul Miller, posted Feb 18th 2008 at 9:41AM

Some Penn State researchers are taking a cue from nature and have built the first solar cell that can effectively split water to harvest the hydrogen. While the technology and efficiency of electricity-gathering solar cells has been humming on nicely, cells that can pull hydrogen out of water directly (instead of using solar-harvested electricity to do it) have found that the catalysts conducive to separating hydrogen and oxygen are usually pretty good at putting the two gases right back together again. The folks at Penn State have now developed a process that more closely mimics the photosynthesis process in plants, and while we won't pretend to understand all the nitty gritty of dye usage and other such nonsense, we do know that such a system could eventually attain 15% or so efficiency, providing a nice and clean way to gather power for that fuel cell car of the future.

[Image courtesy of MTU.edu]

Hydrogen fuel cell-powered MOTOSLVR L7 prototype gets pictured

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 16th 2008 at 1:46PM

Right around a month ago, we heard that Angstrom Power had managed to stuff some of its sophisticated hydrogen fuel cells into a MOTOSLVR L7. That prototype, friends, is what you see about. Unfortunately, we're no closer to realizing when this stuff will actually escape the proverbial beta stage, and for whatever it's worth, we're also no closer to feeling absolutely safe with one of these next to our melon (though existing alternatives don't have the greatest track record either).