Hydrogen Car Reporting Errors

Ed,

I read your article titled, "The Car of the Future," and found a statement that is not factual.

I quote, "Those cars were all two-seaters, took a minimum of five minutes to start, and had maximum ranges of barely over 100 miles." I remember only one car at the grand opening that was a two seater. It was a methanol reformer car that filled the entire back of a station wagon. That car will not be tested here. It was brought here because that car company did not have a vehicle ready at that point that ran on hydrogen gas. All the other cars were four and five seaters. One of our cars (a five seater built from a Mercedes A-Class body) has a range of 280 miles.

You sited a previous article titled, "Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars." In that article you decided that hydrogen fuel cell cars have a warm-up time of five minutes. This does not mean that they cannot be driven immediately after starting, which generally takes about 1 seconds (refer to quote above). It was Honda's choice to warm the car up completely before driving on the street. A fuel cell car does not operate at full power until it reaches operating temperature. Internal combustion engines have the same problem, but not to the same degree. The power of the fuel cell is limited by computer programming until a certain temperature is obtained to prevent possible damage to the fuel cell. This power limitation is adjusted to the "safe" side. If you drive an internal combustion engine hard during its warm-up time, you will cause extra wear. Not much difference.

You also asked in the article, "Weren't those Germans awfully careful with that Hindenberg of theirs?" I believe you brought this up because I had brought up the Hindenberg when you were interviewing me. I had pointed out that the Hindenberg would have burned with hydrogen or helium. The Hindenberg was coated with a gas tight doping compound that was high in aluminum powder and red iron oxide. Does that sound a little like rocket fuel? It is no wonder the Germans became the world leaders in rocket technology a decade later.

I hope this e-mail serves to clear up a few facts.

Richard Tuso
DaimlerChrysler

Editor's Response:

Richard,

Thank you for taking the time to correct some of our mistakes as well as add to our knowledge about the Hindenburg disaster. We have altered the article accordingly.

Ed

Solar produced Hydrogen?

Hello,

I'm a general contractor in the State of California. I will be including into a project(residential bldg.) a solar(pv) sytem (enough to produce about 550-600 kw/month) later this year. Are there systems available today where the electricity produced by the solar part can produce hydrogen. Are there companies in the fuel cell world devoted manily to the solar-fuel cell connection,rather than regeneration (Homegen-Plug Power/GE) of natural gas/propane. Thanks

Editor's Response:

Philip,

You may want to check out ProtonEnergy.com to view their "Unigen" system which has some of the qualities you describe. The Unigen is a fuel cell that can also be run backwards to turn surplus electricity into Hydrogen. Also you may want to contact http://www.Anuvu.com, they have expertise in fuel cells and PVs and might have some ideas for you. I will be doing another story on Fuel Cells sometime next week which should have additional information you may find useful.

Ed

Light rail fuel-cells?

Hello,

I enjoyed reading your article about fuel cells. In your opinion, could fuel cells ever be considered for public transportation vehicles, such as light rail, etc.? I would appreciate your comments and insight. Thank you,

Jim Bartelt

Editor's Response:

Jim,

The reason fuel cells are not yet practical for personal autos is because
(1) they take too long to start,
(2) when they burn non-hydrogen fuel (methane, natural gas, gasoline), they require a "reformer" to process the non-hydrogen fuel and the reformer is still too heavy and bulky for most autos, and
(3) if they use hydrogen, there aren't enough places to get a fill-up.

None of those problems apply when you consider fleet vehicles, buses, and trains. In fact, the first places fuel cell powered vehicles will make their appearance is probably on public buses. There is no reason I know of why a fuel cell system would not be feasible today to power light rail.

Ed

Durable, expensive, practical?

Hello,

Great article. I have been to the GE website and saw the little video on the fuelgen 7000 but it seems that energy suppliers are a little reluctant to promote any such device that would render thier profit margins useless. In fact it would seem that there is some kind of consperacy between government and energy providers to slow the advancement of ecological and economical energy devices. Europe is embracing alternate energy devices while American government is obviously not going to let a good thing go. Why would PSE&G or GE or any other power supply house want the consumer to be able to supply their own power? I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before these devices will be available to the US and at an affordable cost. So back to my point, are these fuel cells durable, expensive, practical?

Editor's Response:

Take a look at our fuel cell manufacturers lookup page, visit their sites and see how they pitch their products.

Redwood

On-site Hydrogen extraction

Dear Editor:

I enjoyed this article, but take opposition with two points. First, when the Hydrogen extraction process is perfected, transportation of pressurized fuel will be unnecesary; the fuel will be produced on site (where it is sold). Secondly, an article at another Hydrogen fuel site stated that the destruction of the Hindenburg was not caused by the explosion of Hydrogen; rather, the paint on the external skin caught fire due to a chemical reaction. It further reported that the flamability of hydrogen is much less than that of gasoline.

Editor's Response:

Anthony,

You are correct, of course. Hydrogen leaks are not nearly as dangerous as natural gas leaks, because the hydrogen is lighter than air and quickly rises into the stratosphere. Hydrogen also burns cooler. That is not to say using hydrogen is totally safe. In confined spaces a hydrogen leak could result in hydrogen accumulating in great explosive quantities. And a public perception of hydrogen as dangerous ala the Hindenberg and ala Hydrogen Bombs "H-Bombs" is going to have to be overcome.

Redwood

When?

Dear Editor:

When will this be ready to market to the people?

Editor's Response:

Shansoy,

Fuel cell costs can come down with volume and standardization. Fuel cells using natural gas, for example, are already feasible to power buildings and fleet vehicles. Fuel cells that use hydrogen, while more ecologically friendly, lack available production and distribution systems for people to produce or purchase the hydrogen fuel. That will take time. To learn more go to our directory of fuel cell manufacturers, then research their web sites. You should get a good idea of what they cost and how much electricity they can produce. Let us know what you find! Fuel cells are being manufactured all over the world and the competition is fierce, so eventually you should be able to buy a $2000 unit at, say, Costco, that will power your home. When? Who knows.

Redwood

Fuel Cells

Dear Editor:

I just finished reading your article on the future of fuel cells. I am a freshman in college and I am writing a Physics paper in just that subject. I was wondering if there was any more information you could send to me or direct me towards (websites, books, jornals, ect.) Thanks of ryou time.

Leland Smith

Editor's Response:

Leland,

You should check the directory of fuel cell manufacturers on our site in the Energy - Fuel Cells section. That should be up, if not, check again after 5PM on Monday. In the meantime, check www.protonenergy.com. They have a fuel cell called the "Unigen" that can run both ways, i.e., it can turn hydrogen into electricity, or can be reversed to turn electricity into hydrogen. This has excellent applications when used in conjunction with photovoltaics, because during the day the PVs power the building and run surplus into the Unigen to make hydrogen, then at night the stored hydrogen is used by the Unigen to power the building. When you complete your paper if you want email it here. We might want to publish it if that's alright with you.

Ed "Redwood" Ring

Solid Forms of Hydrogen

Hello,

I'm curious about the talk of solid forms of hydrogen shaped like a CD disk. Apparently, this would replace the tank and distribution problem. Please let me know if there is any info on this and what companies are involved.
Thanks,

Steve P.

Hindenburg Hydrogen

Hey Ed:

FYI The hydrogen in the airship accident was a result not the cause. Cause was a new doping compound with aluminum and iron particules used for their reflective characteristics to reduce the heat rise from incident radiation in flight. The mixture is quite similar to the propellant used in our rocket motors today. This fact was known to the German engineers who kept quiet while the Americans went on about the dangerous hydrogen. Probably this helped avoid litigation that would have come if the public had known about the dangers of using the new dope, this was the first time in use.

David

Editor's Response:
While hydrogen was not the cause of the Hindenberg conflagration, it certainly provided the bulk of the fuel. Using the Hindenberg example is merely a vivid way to illustrate the magnitude of a disaster that might occur not with an airship, but what could happen with a large, highly pressurized hydrogen storage vessel that fails and catches fire.

Keri Durgan
Editor