Posted on 08/07/2011 5:57:06 AM PDT by KevinDavis
What is said to be the world’s first zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell class 8 truck rolled through roads in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach recently.
Vision Industries delivered the truck to Total Transportation Services, a national trucking company, at the end of July to be tested in California ports. The truck will do short-haul routes typical of the other trucks currently operating in the ports in the coming six months.
(Excerpt) Read more at earthtechling.com ...
I’m for anything that works well and is cost efficient. If we can replace oil with something more practical, kick ass.
Dirty little secret is the people who run the enviroment agencies and lobby groups don’t care for cars at all even if they don’t give off CO2. They don’t like large machines. They are made with evil American Capitalism and can too easily kill animals and plants
Hydrogen Fuel Cell is electric; in more ways than one.
The hydrogen must be separated from water by electrolysis (very expensive energy wise).
The fuel cell generates electricity that will power a electric traction motor.
Personally I would prefer a natural gas (methane) fuel cell if I were to want to use such a thing to power a truck; Much more environmentally friendly.
They keep breaking down...and maintenance and back up buses together with overtime pay is costing the city big bucks.
was reported here on FR last year.
I’d like to see tne energy budget, i.e. what it costs to make the hydrogen vs. the power it provides. Transportation and storage are also pretty big technical issues, but someday will be managed.
While it’s not suitable for over-the-road trucks, take a look at the Hydraulic Hybrids that have been created by both Eaton and Parker Hannifin, working with FedEx, UPS, etc. They store the energy created from braking, going downhill, etc in hydraulic accumulators that can then be use to power the vehicle. There’s no free lunch, but it’s a viable alternative to electric for vehicles like package delivery cars, garbage trucks, etc that do a lot of short distance, stop-and-go driving.
Lessee...
Coal (85% of the time) to electricity to hydrogen to electricity to drive the truck.
Gee, that sounds so much more efficient than using oil directly. (/S)
Oh I can believe it. Not saying this stuff is ready for prime time and the hippes aren’t forcing it down everyone’s throats. However, I do think the development is interesting and might provide something decent down the line.
My calculations come up to $300,000 per unit....where’s the savings.
Hydrogen is a waste product for many manufacturing processes.
Before we shipped most of the plastics industry overseas, that industry by itself vented enough hydrogen to be one third of what would be needed to switch to hydrogen.
Waste gases of any process are very rarely pure.
Separating hydrogen from other gases is notoriously difficult.
Wonder if big rigs will ever be autonomous? And combining that with renewable energy, if the savings will passed on to consumers?
Or.....you can mix lye and water and drop in aluminum - another costly method that also produces a lot of heat...
While hydrogen CAN be generated from water using this method, it almost never IS.
Almost all commercially used hydrogen is generated from fossil fuels, with the carbon released into the atmosphere exactly the same as if the fuel were just burned directly.
The only way hydrogen fuel cell becomes a truly zero-emissions system is if the hydrogen is provided through electrolysis of water, and the electricity used is from wind, hydro, nuclear or some other non-carbon source.
**Separating hydrogen from other gases is notoriously difficult.**
In 9th grade Science Class, we separated Hydrogen and Oxygen from water using a 9 volt radio battery. The only problem would be scaling it for larger amounts.
I drove 18 wheeler for 10 years or so. Having Hydrogen as fuel, no matter how safe the Cell may be... would be like having an 80,000 pound HINDENBURG going down the highway... I dunno!!!
I do, too. Experimentation and innovation are fascinating and the drivers of all human progress.
*IF* there are no taxpayer dollars involved. Something tells me we all own a piece of this marvelous truck.
Of course in the context of my post the separation would be separating Hydrogen gas from other gases while in the gaseous state.
The only two ways I know of doing this is through distillation which is the way industrial gases are made which is refrigerating the gases essentially making liquid hydrogen. The other is gaseous diffusion which is forcing gasses through a series of membranes which is easier for hydrogen to do than other gasses until you have only hydrogen remaining. As far as I know no one uses diffusion.
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