Posted on 07/10/2007 7:27:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- The relatively quick-and-easy answer to foreign oil dependence and automotive greenhouse gas emissions is circling the grounds every day at Orlando International Airport in Florida, according to a top Ford Motor Co. official. It's a utilitarian 12-passenger parking lot shuttle bus powered by a 6.8-liter internal combustion hydrogen engine, which Ford officials said is their hydrogen technology that's closest to mass production.
"We really believe this technology is ready to be evaluated at the consumer level," John Lapetz, the company's program manager for the buses, told reporters on Tuesday at an event staged to tout Ford's future vehicles.
About 30 E-450 Hydrogen shuttle buses are working across the U.S. and Canada, and Ford engineers are monitoring them electronically in real time, Lapetz said. The vehicles, powered by a modified gasoline engine, have near zero emissions and get up to 13 percent better fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts, he said.
Nearly every automaker is testing hydrogen-powered vehicles across the world, touting them as a renewable alternative to gasoline.
Lapetz said Ford has the ability to bring internal combustion hydrogen technology to market in cars within five years. But that's only if fuel storage limitations can be solved, public fear of hydrogen can be allayed, filling stations set up, and gas prices stay high.
"The technology is there at a sufficient level, in the three-to-five year window, if all things were perfect, we could reasonably think this is a solution we could draw on," Lapetz said. "We're not really talking about invention, that's the thing. We know how to manufacture this kind of technology in high volumes."
That time frame is reasonable, Gurpreet Singh, team leader for engine and emission control technologies with the U.S. Department of Energy, said Tuesday.
"You're taking the base gasoline engine and modifying that. You don't need to have anything that's very exotic," he said.
The Energy Department also says hydrogen can be used as safely as other common fuels if handled properly.
Four of Ford's $250,000 buses currently are in service in Orlando, two at the airport and two with the convention bureau. Ford has incurred the design costs and relies on partners to pay for the buses, in this case the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The buses' range is limited to 150-200 miles by fuel storage technology, and they cost far more than the roughly $70,000 Ford charges for shuttles powered by gas engines.
The first Orlando bus started shuttling passengers in April and has performed reliably, said Carolyn Fennell, spokeswoman for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
Internal combustion hydrogen could be a bridge toward the ultimate hydrogen vehicles powered by fuel cells, which are as far off as 2015 or beyond, said Scott Staley, chief engineer of Ford's hydrogen and fuel cell technology department.
Internal combustion hydrogen engines give off a small amount of pollution because they burn lubricants, Lapetz said. Fuel cell vehicles, on the other hand, use hydrogen to produce electricity that fuels an electric motor. They are quieter than gasoline engines and their only waste product is water.
Despite the small amount of pollution, the internal combustion hydrogen engines have another advantage, and that is a far lower cost than fuel cells, Lapetz said.
"It doesn't have the sizzle of a fuel cell, but it's got the steak of the meal," he said
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
i’ll believe that when i see it.
we’ve been on this liberal-socialist-environmentalist-big oil co-detroit moco merry go round since the 1973 oil crisis.
and not much has changed.
Wars have been fought over water longer than they have been fought over oil.
Since the byproduct of hydrogen engines is water vapor, and water vapor is the real “greenhouse” gas, look for the EnviroTards (who now deny water vapor in favor of CO2) to start complaining about this technology.
Guaranteed to happen eventually.
That was the thermite on the skin that caused the Hindenberg to go up like that.
They could have filled the thing with helium, and it *still* would have burned.
Also, BMW has had hydrogen-powered 7-series sedans running around Stuttgart for over a decade now. Several of them have been in serious accidents, and they’ve not had a fire problem.
The biggest problem they have is that there’s only a few hydrogen fuelling stations in Stuttgart.
Does this mean that the gasoline buses get 8mpg and this thing (3-4x the cost) gets just over 9mpg?
I remember hearing/reading that something (aluminum? powder) mixed with sea water produces hydrogen? There’s some sort of device used by the military where you put this tube in sea water and hydrogen gas is produced to fill a balloon for rescue people to see, or it’s used as an antenna ... whatever ....
But can this hydrogen powered car go 100mph for AL Gore III (my God, I can`t believe there are three of those things).
BMW is currently making and selling (in limited numbers) the hydrogen-combustion powered 7 series, dubbed the Hydrogen 7:
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/bmw-hydrogen-7-production/
Wars have been fought over water longer than they have been fought over oil.
First thing that came to my mind was within a century Earth starts to become like Venus.
Some think tank should predict what will happen to the global climate if we did indeed start burning hydrogen and had now adding a massive inclusion of water vapor into our atmosphere.
Technically, you could make hydrogen at home. The question is whether it would be cost effective to do so.
Oh, Lord - another hydrogen thread.
You didn't need a picture of the Hindenburg, a picture of a Pinto would have made your point!
If this was done to set up refueling stations (hydrogen), then natural gas is converted to hydrogen at a local refining process. The hydrogen gas is piped to hydrogen stations.
The Natural Gas to Hydrogen conversion gives off heat, which could be used to produce electricity, which could be used to produce more hydrogen (though an inefficient means).
One interesting hybrid would be using the FireFly Energy Carbon Foam batteries in conjunction with some sort of hydrogen power as well.
The FireFly Energy battery is the same concept as the lead acid battery but has significant advantages -- quicker and more effective recharges and it is significantly lighter and has more area to produce power (the carbon foam technology versus lead plates).
What worries me is that the most common way to make hydrogen is throught the use of natural gas. What will that do to home heating costs?
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