Posted on 09/24/2016 1:14:49 AM PDT by aquila48
This week, French transit company Alstom unveiled the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train, which will begin making trips in Germany at the end of the 2017. The news was first reported by German newspaper Die Welt.
The super-quiet Coradia iLint passenger train is powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which emit only steam and condensed water. A hydrogen fuel tank stored on the roof of the train powers the fuel cells to produce electrical energy. Alstom said it hopes its hydrogen-fueled trains can replace Europe’s many diesel-burning ones, which are still in wide use despite numerous electrification projects across the continent.
Alstom unveiled the new train at InnoTrans, an annual trade show in Berlin this week. Starting at the end of 2017, the train will run on the Buxtehude-Bremervörde-Bremerhaven-Cuxhaven line in the northwestern German state of Lower Saxony. Lower Saxony's local transportation authority has meanwhile ordered 14 trains of the type. Testing and approval by the German Federal Railway Authority Eisenbahn-Bundesamt will commence in fall 2016 and is expected to be completed by end of 2017.
The Coradia iLint may be the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train, but it’s certainly not the first vehicle to run on hydrogen fuel cells. Stan Thompson, former strategic planner at AT&T and long-term advocate of the use of hydrogen for rail transportation, coined the term "hydrail" in 2004 to describe any type of rail vehicle that uses hydrogen fuel cells. There have been prototypes and hybrid trains in the meantime, most notably in Japan.
(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...
How much energy do they use to crack the hydrogen out of whatever molecules?
Hydrogen fuel cell automobiles are already available - if you live in the Los Angeles area. The Toyota Mirai is available now. The Honda Clarity and Hyundai Tucson will be available by January.
What is condensed water? Rain or snow.
Ping to my #19 (note that when I said “my” textbook, I meant the one I studied from - I did not mean to imply authorship, as could be wrongly inferred from my reply).
Ammonia absorbed within water free magnesium chloride stores about as much energy content as liquid hydrogen, but, safely and in a smaller volume.
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