Abstract
A hydrogen vehicle is an alternative fuel vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. The term may refer to a personal transportation vehicle, such as an automobile, or any other vehicle that uses hydrogen in a similar fashion, such as an aircraft. The power plants of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy either by burning hydrogen in aninternal combustion engine, or by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell to run electric motors. Widespread use of hydrogen for fueling transportation is a key element of a proposed hydrogen economy.
Hydrogen fuel does not occur naturally on Earth and thus is not an energy source, but is an energy carrier. Currently it is most frequently made from methane or other fossil fuels. However, it can be produced from a wide range of sources (such as wind, solar, or nuclear) that are intermittent, too diffuse or too cumbersome to directly propel vehicles. Integrated wind-to-hydrogen plants, usingelectrolysis of water, are exploring technologies to deliver costs low enough, and quantities great enough, to compete with traditional energy sources.
Many companies are working to develop technologies that might efficiently exploit the potential of hydrogen energy for mobile uses. The attraction of using hydrogen as an energy currency is that, if hydrogen is prepared without using fossil fuel inputs, vehicle propulsion would not contribute to carbon dioxide emissions. The drawbacks of hydrogen use are low energy content per unit volume, high tankage weights, the storage, transportation and filling of gaseous or liquid hydrogen in vehicles, the large investment in infrastructure that would be required to fuel vehicles, and the inefficiency of production processes.
Vehicles
Buses, trains, PHB bicycles, canal boats, cargo bikes, golf carts, motorcycles, wheelchairs, ships, airplanes, submarines, and rockets can already run on hydrogen, in various forms. NASA uses hydrogen to launch Space Shuttles into space. There is even a working toy model car that runs on solar power, using a regenerative fuel cell to store energy in the form of hydrogen and oxygen gas. It can then convert the fuel back into water to release the solar energy.
The current land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle is 286.476 mph (461.038 km/h) set by Ohio State University's Buckeye Bullet 2, which achieved a "flying-mile" speed of 280.007 mph (450.628 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in August 2008. For production-style vehicles, the current record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle is 333.38 km/h (207.2 mph) set by a prototype Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 Fuel Cell Race Car at Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah in August 2007. It was accompanied by a large compressed oxygen tank to increase power. Honda has also created a concept called the FC Sport, which may be able to beat that record if put into production.
Automobiles
Many companies are currently researching the feasibility of building hydrogen cars, and some automobile manufacturers have begun developing hydrogen cars (see list of fuel cell vehicles). Funding has come from both private and government sources. However, the Ford Motor Company has dropped its plans to develop hydrogen cars, stating that "The next major step in Ford’s plan is to increase over time the volume of electrified vehicles".Similarly, French Renault-Nissan announced in 2009 that it is cancelling its hydrogen car R&D efforts. As of October 2009, General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson noted that GM had reduced its hydrogen program because the cost of building hydrogen cars was too high. "It's still a ways away from commercialization", he said. The "Volt will likely cost around $40,000 while a hydrogen vehicle would cost around $400,000. Most hydrogen cars are currently only available in demonstration models or in a lease construction in limited numbers and are not yet ready for general public use. The estimated number of hydrogen-powered cars in the United States was 200 as of October 2009, mostly in California.
Honda introduced its fuel cell vehicle in 1999 called the FCX and have since then introduced the second generation FCX Clarity. In 2007 at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, Honda unveiled the first production model of the FCX Clarity. Limited marketing of the FCX Clarity began in June 2008 in the United States, and it was introduced in Japan in November 2008. The FCX Clarity is available in the U.S. only in Los Angeles Area, where 16 hydrogen filling stations are available, and as of July 2009, 10 drivers had leased the Clarity for US$600 a month. Honda stated that it could start mass producing vehicles based on the FCX concept by the year 2020. Honda reaffirmed, in 2009, that it continues to put resources into hydrogen fuel cell development, which it sees as "a better long term bet than batteries and plug-in vehicles".
In 2008, Hyundai announced its intention to produce 500 FC vehicles by 2010 and to start mass production of its FC vehicles in 2012. In early 2009, Daimlerannounced plans to begin its FC vehicle production in 2009 with the aim of 100,000 vehicles in 2012-2013. In 2009, Nissan started testing a new FC vehicle in Japan
In September 2009, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Renault, Nissan and Toyota issued a joint statement about their undertaking to further develop and launch fuel-cell electric vehicles as early as 2015.
In February 2010 Lotus Cars announced that it was developing a fleet of hydrogen taxis in London, with the hope of them being ready to trial by the 2012 Olympic Games. London's deputy mayor, Kit Malthouse, said he hoped six filling stations would be available and that around 20-50 taxis would be in operation by then, as well as 150 hydrogen-powered buses.
In March 2010, General Motors said it had not abandoned the fuel-cell technology and still targeted to introduce hydrogen vehicles to retail customers by 2015. Charles Freese, GM’s executive director of global powertrain engineering, stated that the company believes that both fuel-cell vehicles and battery electric vehicles are needed for reduction of greenhouse gases and reliance on oil, and the U.S. should follow Germany and Japan in adopting a more uniform strategy on advanced technology options. Both have announced plans to open 1,000 hydrogen fuel stations.
Buses
Fuel cell buses (as opposed to hydrogen fueled buses) are being trialed by several manufacturers in different locations. The Fuel Cell Bus Club is a global fuel cell bus testing collaboration.
Hydrogen was first stored in roof mounted tanks, although models are now incorporating inboard tanks. Some double deck models uses between floor tanks.
Bicycles
Pearl Hydrogen Power Sources of Shanghai, China, unveiled a hydrogen bicycle at the 9th China International Exhibition on Gas Technology, Equipment and Applications in 2007.
Motorcycles and scooters
ENV is developing electric motorcycles powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, including the Crosscage and Biplane. Other manufacturers as Vectrix are working on hydrogen scooters. Finally, hydrogen fuel cell-electric hybrid scooters are being made such as the Suzuki Burgman Fuel cell scooter and the FHybrid
Quads
Autostudi S.r.l's H-Due is a hydrogen-powered quad, capable of transporting 1-3 passengers.
Tractors
A concept for a hydrogen powered tractor has been proposed.
Airplanes
Companies such as Boeing, Lange Aviation, and the German Aerospace Center are pursuing hydrogen as fuel for manned and unmanned airplanes. In February 2008 Boeing tested a manned flight of a small aircraft powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Unmanned hydrogen planes have also been tested. For large passenger airplanes however, The Times reported that "Boeing said that hydrogen fuel cells were unlikely to power the engines of large passenger jet airplanes but could be used as backup or auxiliary power units onboard."
In July 2010 Boeing unveiled its hydrogen powered Phantom Eye UAV, powered by two Ford internal combustion engines that have been converted to run on hydrogen.
In Europe, the Reaction Engines A2 has been proposed to use the thermodynamic properties of liquid hydrogen to achieve very high speed, long distance (antipodal) flight by burning it in a precooled jet engine.
Fork trucks
A HICE forklift or HICE lift truck is a hydrogen fueled, internal combustion engine powered industrial forklift truck used to lift and transport materials. The first production HICE forklift truck based on the Linde X39 Diesel was presented at an exposition in Hannover on May 27, 2008. It used a 2.0 liter, 43 kW diesel internal combustion engine converted to use hydrogen as a fuel with the use of a compressor and direct injection.[26][27] The hydrogen tank is filled with 26 liters of hydrogen at 350 bar pressure.
Rockets
Rockets employ hydrogen because hydrogen gives the highest effective exhaust velocity as well as giving a lower net weight of propellant than other fuels. It performs particularly well on upper stages, although it has been used on lower stages as well, usually in conjunction with a dense fuel
booster.
The main disadvantage of hydrogen in this application is the low density and deeply cryogenic nature, requiring insulation- this makes the hydrogen tanks relatively heavy, which greatly offsets much of the otherwise overwhelming advantages for this application.
The main advantage of hydrogen is that although the velocity change of a stage employing it is little different to a stage using denser fuel, the lift-off weight of the stage is less. Particularly when used for upper stages this permits a lighter rocket for any given payload
Reference:
http://en.wikipediawiki/Hydrogen_vehicle