Hydrogen Cobra
'Clean' Cobra now on sale in the USA
Over in the USA, the Hydrogen Car Company (HCC) has announced the launch of its flagship vehicle, the Hydrogen Shelby Cobra.
Operating on a hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2ICE), the Hydrogen Shelby Cobra is the result of a partnership between HCC and Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc. (CSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Carroll Shelby International, Inc.
The first of HCC's vehicles available to the public, the Hydrogen Shelby Cobra runs on clean burning, domestically generated hydrogen fuel and is available for order immediately.
Although no power figures are quoted, HCC claim 0-60mph in 4 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 12.8 seconds indicating power is ample.
S. David Freeman, HCC's Chairman chumbled, "We have an historic opportunity to fundamentally change the fuel we use to power our cars. There is a dominant misperception that something is wrong with American cars. It is not the cars that are the problem, but rather the fuel. We do not have to wait decades until hydrogen fuel cell vehicles become viable. The hydrogen internal combustion engine can help us to end our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels today, and it will serve as a bridging technology to the fuel cell ."
According to HCC the hydrogen internal combustion engine uses existing, proven technologies to deliver the environmental and fuel security benefits of a hydrogen fuel cell, but at a fraction of the complexity and cost. HCC's H2ICE vehicles have no carbon (neither CO nor CO2) and super low nitrous oxide (NOX) emissions.
The Hydrogen Shelby Cobra is assembled at Carroll Shelby's engine facility in Gardena, CA. These Shelby CSX 4000 Series Hydrogen Cobras come with the option of a Shelby 427 FE V8, 7.8 liter H2ICE or a Ford 351 V8, 5.8 liter H2ICE and either a composite or aluminum body and prices start at $149,000.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles will utilize an expanding refueling infrastructure that is being developed throughout California and the U.S. In California alone, there are 14 stations and an additional 16 are scheduled to come on line in 2004-2005. Supporting their development, California Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed an Executive Order creating a public-private partnership to realize the "hydrogen highway," which will result in 170 stations being added to the state's major freeways by 2010. Illinois has also announced a "hydrogen highway" plan and other states are poised to follow.
Links
fto2tuscan said:
phenomenal! very impressive.... would it stull grunt and growl like a cobra should?
www.fast-autos.net/shelby/shelbyphantomcobra.html
Shelby 427 FE aluminum block V8 with optional Bolt-On Supercharger: 725 bhp / 600 lb-ft Enough grunt. And clean!
article said:
The first of HCC's vehicles available to the public, the Hydrogen Shelby Cobra runs on clean burning, domestically generated hydrogen fuel and is available for order immediately.
I'm intrested in this domesticaly generated hydrogen fuel. Do they mean some sort of hyrogen producing plant stuck in a garden shed? it'd ned to be wind/solar powered to actualy be clean fuel too.
RobDickinson said:
The first of HCC's vehicles available to the public, the Hydrogen Shelby Cobra runs on clean burning, domestically generated hydrogen fuel and is available for order immediately.
I'm intrested in this domesticaly generated hydrogen fuel. Do they mean some sort of hyrogen producing plant stuck in a garden shed? it'd ned to be wind/solar powered to actualy be clean fuel too.
their website (www.h2carco.com) gives a link to a provider of H2 generation kit.
Quite right Rob - unless the electricity to generate all this hydrogen is coming from nuclear, wind, wave or solar then it's about as green as a fat V8 in a fat car driven by a fat bastard.
might be a better idea to start building some light cars?
www.clean-air.org/Hydrogen%20Cobra%20Story/Hydrogen%20Cobra.htm
As for making your own fuel...
Its not all its cracked up to be.
A kilogram of hydrogen gives you as much energy as 3.93 litres of petrol.
So assuming your hydrogen V8 is giving about 35mpg (equivelant) then to drive 100 miles you'll need either 13 litres of petrol or 3.3 kg of hydrogen.
To generate hydrogen using electricty (from water) you need 33.5 kW hours per kilo. Thats assuming you have a hydrolyser that's 100% efficient. If its 75% efficient (more likely) then that becomes 44.6 kWH
so to drive 100 miles you'll need about 147 kW hours of 'leccy.
Assume 6p per kWH then thats £8.82 plus you'll need power to compress your hydrogen into a big tank.
Now compare that to the 10 quid of petrol you'd use for the same distance.
Bear in mind it seems cheaper to us Brits but to the Americans (with their cheap petrol) its much more expensive.
And thats before the cost of the hydrolyser and conversion are taken into account.
Plus as someone said, unless it comes from wind, hydro, or nukes then we might as well keep burning dead dinos in our cars yet.
But I still think its a great idea, if only so you can do doughnuts round environmentalists in the car park
Andy
article said:
According to HCC the hydrogen internal combustion engine uses existing, proven technologies to deliver the environmental and fuel security benefits of a hydrogen fuel cell, but at a fraction of the complexity and cost. HCC's H2ICE vehicles have no carbon (neither CO nor CO2) and super low nitrous oxide (NOX) emissions.
Nitros Oxide emissions eh? Not only would the car produce less toxins but it would have the local populace laughing in the streets!
I suppose you could just plumb it straight back into the engine for a bit of extra pep!
I think NOX is actually Nitrogen Oxide!
It seems strange to me that there is such a focus on alternative fuels for cars which require vast amounts of electricity (ie battery power, this hydrogen jobbie), when methanol is very clean burning, readily created from organic matter by fermentation, AND about 120 octane. ie you can make a LOT more power on methanol than on pump fuel, by using more compression, more boost or more ignition advance in your engine than you could with pump fuel.
aww999 said:
It seems strange to me that there is such a focus on alternative fuels for cars which require vast amounts of electricity (ie battery power, this hydrogen jobbie), when methanol is very clean burning, readily created from organic matter by fermentation, AND about 120 octane. ie you can make a LOT more power on methanol than on pump fuel, by using more compression, more boost or more ignition advance in your engine than you could with pump fuel.
Um, don't you mean ethanol Methanol isn't produced by fermentation.
Check out my link above if you want to read more about the hydrogen IC engine.
Ford also have one if I recall correctly.
Andy
Ok, we may shift the problem a bit, in that we will have to fertilize the land, but at the limit, this is pure solar energy. Shine the sun on the plants, they grow, using up neutriants. Extract the energy to burn in engines, fertilize the ground using the husks of the plants.
Job done.
As a fuel also - it appears to work well in IRL
jamieheasman said:
According to HCC the hydrogen internal combustion engine uses existing, proven technologies to deliver the environmental and fuel security benefits of a hydrogen fuel cell, but at a fraction of the complexity and cost. HCC's H2ICE vehicles have no carbon (neither CO nor CO2) and super low nitrous oxide (NOX) emissions.
Nitros Oxide emissions eh? Not only would the car produce less toxins but it would have the local populace laughing in the streets!
I suppose you could just plumb it straight back into the engine for a bit of extra pep!
I think NOX is actually Nitrogen Oxide!
N2O is nitrous oxide (lauging gas)
the NOx they're talking about here is not one compound, but the various nitrogen oxides you get from engines exhausts - NO, NO2, N2O5 etc
daydreamer said:
Must admit that I wonder why organic fuel doesn't have better press, as suggested above.
Ok, we may shift the problem a bit, in that we will have to fertilize the land, but at the limit, this is pure solar energy. Shine the sun on the plants, they grow, using up neutriants. Extract the energy to burn in engines, fertilize the ground using the husks of the plants.
Job done.
As a fuel also - it appears to work well in IRL
Yup ethanol is great fuel but as always there is a but.
There simply isn't enough of it. Even America with a huge industrial farm base and a relativley small population (for the land mass) can't make enough of the stuff.
I don't think our little island has the capacity to grow its own fuel.
It'd be nice though.
The madness is though that bio fuels don't get a tax break in this country. They are taxed as heavily as regular fuel, despite being more expensive to produce. This makes them uncompetitive with oil based products. Its madness.
Andy
BogBeast said:
As long as it sounds & goes like a V8 should, then I'm all for it !!
Mind you, I thought hydrogen itself was one of the best greenhouse gases there is (if it leaked, which it will...)
Nope hydrogen is not a greenhouse gas, as far as I know.
(although you wouldn't want it leaking anywhere
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