Ford punts new hydrogen powered bus
Just a shuttle for now but is this the future?
Once one of them does it, it seems they're all at it. A tad more pedestrian than BMW's high speed hydrogen car, Ford has launched an experimental hydrogen-powered bus, the H2ICE E-450.
The Ford H2ICE E-450 is a Ford E-450 chassis cab, with a shuttle bus body and a hydrogen-fuelled 6.8 litre Triton V10 engine. Ford will put two of the H2ICE E-450s into service as shuttle buses at the 2005 North American International Auto Show to demonstrate their capability.
"The hydrogen-fuelled shuttle bus is a product we could market to customers who need to move people in an efficient, environmentally friendly way," said Dr. Gerhard Schmidt, Ford's head of research and advanced engineering. "We think this is an interesting solution for airport transportation, for example."
The H2ICE E-450 seats up to 12 passengers and their luggage, including the driver. The vehicle is equipped with a 26-gallon equivalent, 5,000 lb/sq. inch hydrogen fuel tank. The engine is a modified 6.8 litre Triton V10. The range is expected to be up to 150-miles depending on conditions and vehicle load.
According to Ford, the company is active in the development of alternatives to traditional gasoline-powered internal combustion engines. For years, the car industry focused on battery-electric vehicles as the answer. But as years passed, battery technology never progressed or showed hope of progressing to reach a level near the efficiency of petrol power, said Ford. Now the industry has shifted its efforts toward petrol-powered hybrid-electric, "clean diesel," direct injection petrol and diesel, and eventually, hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Ford developed the Escape Hybrid, a gasoline full hybrid-electric vehicle that is on sale now. Ford says it is also "very active" in fuel cell technology and is now producing a demonstration fleet of 30 Focus Fuel Cell Vehicles in collaboration with its alliance with Ballard Power Systems. These vehicles will be placed in Sacramento, Orlando, Southeast Michigan, Vancouver, and Germany. In Europe, Ford is also active in clean-diesel and direct injection technologies.
Hydrogen fuel cells are now almost universally recognized as the eventual heir to the internal combustion engine. Yet, even with tremendous progress in recent years, additional work is required to satisfy customer expectations in terms of durability and affordability.
As the development of the fuel cell continues to mature, the industry, governments, energy companies, and interested non-governmental organizations ponder how customers will fuel hydrogen vehicles of the future. Today's highway is lined with gasoline stations not equipped for hydrogen needs.
"We believe that H2ICE vehicles will play a key role in justifying infrastructure development and accelerating a transition to a hydrogen economy," said Schmidt.
Ford is working with BP to build a network of hydrogen fuelling stations in demonstration fleet markets to support the fuel cell vehicles. Some BP hydrogen refuelling stations will evaluate technologies that have near-term commercial feasibility, such as reformation of natural gas, while others will explore more long-term technology options and assess the potential to produce renewable-based hydrogen that achieve U.S. DOE hydrogen fuel cost targets.
While the development of fuel cells continues, Ford believes H2ICE is a technology that will make hydrogen-power more practical. Ford also is utilizing H2ICEs to developing stationary backup or supplemental power systems and off-street applications such as airport ground support vehicles. Making H2ICE accessible sooner will help spur growth in the development of a hydrogen infrastructure paving the way for fuel cells in the future.
It's all very well having a vehicle that's only emission is water, but if the hydrogen is made from recombined natural gas it solves nothing.
The non-fossil fuel route involves electrolysis from water to start with, which requires a VAST amount of electricity, which comes from fossil fuelled power stations.
If you look at the whole energy cycle to power a car, diesel is still far more efficient and less polluting.
I think that the supply of hydrogen can be done efficiently, but it needs to be concentrated on just as much, if not more than the actual vehicles themselves.
riceturbo said:
Hydrogen didn't do much for the Hindenburg though did it?
If you read up on the hindenburg (and I don't mean this as a dig at you) you'll see that the problem was that the dope used on the canvas frame was made up of aluminium and iron oxide - more commonly known as thermite!
It wasn't the hydrogen that caused the bang, rather the fact that it was effectively a huge thermite bomb with a load of hydrogen onboard which while it didn't exactly help matters
, wasn't the cause of the disaster...As renewables are, by design, exceptionally unreliable (you can only drive your car on sunny / windy etc days), then battery storage is essential. (This arguement comes a little unstuck when it is accepted that nuclear power is very green indeed, but even this technology can't match demand with supply)
I agree therefore that the production of the fuel does need serious work - but that shouldn't stop developement of the applications for the fuel.
It does indeed look like this is the future
Starting to sound like an F1 thread this - sorry guys
.Electrolysis? That will need a lot of electricity.
Nuclear power yes please?
I think that electric and hydrogen will help but biomass fuels are still the cheapest, easiest and possibly the most environmentally friendly form of solar power.
for what its worth US scientists have come up with a catalyst method of extracting hydrogen and CO2 from an ethanol (alcohol) and water mix.
It was a low temperature reaction and bio ethanol was used.
its worth remembering that there is more hydrogen in a gallon of bio ethanol than there is in a gallon of liquid hydrogen. Pure hydrogen is a piss poor way of storing it whether its compressed gas or cryo liquid.
I think the hydrogen bus is a good idea.
Andy
andytk said:
at least its not diseasel.
for what its worth US scientists have come up with a catalyst method of extracting hydrogen and CO2 from an ethanol (alcohol) and water mix.
It was a low temperature reaction and bio ethanol was used.
its worth remembering that there is more hydrogen in a gallon of bio ethanol than there is in a gallon of liquid hydrogen. Pure hydrogen is a piss poor way of storing it whether its compressed gas or cryo liquid.
I think the hydrogen bus is a good idea.
Andy
You'd also be much better to run the bus on bio ethanol (easy enough) than arse around converting the ethanol to hydrogen + CO2 - pointless inefficiency IMHO
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