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The idea of hydrogen powered cars is in the news again. Our current president has set a goal of having 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015, but many think that this is a pie-in-the-sky dream.
Much like electric cars, we don’t have filling stations for hydrogen cars and a study shows that they are a long way off. Oh, the technology is there, but the price is outrageous. Currently, American drivers only have 56 hydrogen fuel stations at their service. Of course a lot of them are in California. If you lived in the burbs, you would be in trouble. Those numbers are not likely to change, as the cost of a hydrogen station cost between $500,000 and 800,000 each, or more than the cost of a new Quick Trip, including the Tacito stations.
There really is no downside to hydrogen fuel cell technology. Hydrogen goes into the cell, the hydrogen goes through a membrane, electricity is made, and the only thing left over is heat and water. How cool is that?
Hydrogen Car Basics
Personally, I have been following hydrogen fuel cell technology since the 90s. I still have a Mother Earth News article that shows a house with a propane tank and a fuel cell the size of a home air conditioner unit. The PEM, or proton exchange membrane filtered out the hydrogen from the LP and made all of the electricity the house needed. Using the heat produced by the PEM, the owner pre-heated the water for the water heater and nothing went to waste. Wait, did you say propane? Why are we trying to make cars that run off of pure hydrogen instead of just propane? Why don’t we have propane/hydrogen powered houses and cars now? Good question.
I think it all boils down to this. If you can’t control the supply of a material, you can’t control the price or the people purchasing it. Does that sound a little kooky? So be it. I mean that would pre-suppose that two of our last four presidents were oil men. Who would ever believe that? That would be like saying that a president could be elected that wasn’t even a citizen.
A video of a PEM in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2vZ9o_0WyA
A website for the hydrogen fuel cell Corvair van from 1966 http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/gm-electrovan.htm
Mother Earth News 1999 on fuel cells for home use: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renew...he-People.aspx
Much like electric cars, we don’t have filling stations for hydrogen cars and a study shows that they are a long way off. Oh, the technology is there, but the price is outrageous. Currently, American drivers only have 56 hydrogen fuel stations at their service. Of course a lot of them are in California. If you lived in the burbs, you would be in trouble. Those numbers are not likely to change, as the cost of a hydrogen station cost between $500,000 and 800,000 each, or more than the cost of a new Quick Trip, including the Tacito stations.
There really is no downside to hydrogen fuel cell technology. Hydrogen goes into the cell, the hydrogen goes through a membrane, electricity is made, and the only thing left over is heat and water. How cool is that?
Hydrogen Car Basics
Personally, I have been following hydrogen fuel cell technology since the 90s. I still have a Mother Earth News article that shows a house with a propane tank and a fuel cell the size of a home air conditioner unit. The PEM, or proton exchange membrane filtered out the hydrogen from the LP and made all of the electricity the house needed. Using the heat produced by the PEM, the owner pre-heated the water for the water heater and nothing went to waste. Wait, did you say propane? Why are we trying to make cars that run off of pure hydrogen instead of just propane? Why don’t we have propane/hydrogen powered houses and cars now? Good question.
I think it all boils down to this. If you can’t control the supply of a material, you can’t control the price or the people purchasing it. Does that sound a little kooky? So be it. I mean that would pre-suppose that two of our last four presidents were oil men. Who would ever believe that? That would be like saying that a president could be elected that wasn’t even a citizen.
A video of a PEM in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2vZ9o_0WyA
A website for the hydrogen fuel cell Corvair van from 1966 http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/gm-electrovan.htm
Mother Earth News 1999 on fuel cells for home use: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renew...he-People.aspx
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