Hydrogen Gas In Cars – Something For the Future ?
Your vehicle is probably running on ethanol-enhanced gasoline as this is currently the cheapest fuel you will find at the gas station. Ethanol has been touted as the answer to reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil supplies as well as reduction in greenhouse gas emission levels. People are beginning to question this proposition as producing swathes of crops is possibly as inefficient as the fuel it produces. Ethanol is a fuel that cars have been using to run without optimization for a long time, so obviously it’s not the right choice. A new contender for better fuel economy is using hydrogen gas in cars.
The use of hydrogen gas in cars however has seemingly countless benefits over both ethanol and gasoline fuels. It is a much cleaner burning fuel that leave no carbon footprint as its only emission is water vapor which is comprised of mostly nitrogen which make up over seventy five percent of the air we breathe. It also offers roughly two-thirds better fuel economy at about half the price.
There appears to be two major concerns involved in converting to hydrogen gas cars. The first is distance from a hydrogen gas generation facility which may be the most difficult to overcome. Creating the infrastructure, a kin to all the gas stations that you see on every other corner of a street is a massive undertaking. Without available refueling stations, you will have problems finding the hydrogen fuel for your vehicle. The second issue revolves around designing a viable on-board fuel generation system to continuously power the vehicle.
The process of producing great quantities of hydrogen fuel on board a vehicle to burn instead of gasoline still faces technological limitations, compromising widespread use of this technology on the road. A few automobile manufacturers planning to manufacture fully hydrogen-powered vehicles are also planning to produce home hydrogen gas fueling stations. This will not only allow you to fuel your car but also generate power for your dwelling, giving you a big cost reduction in energy expenditure and help in environmental protection.
There are several viable options for converting your gasoline-powered vehicle into a hydrogen hybrid that will allow you to take advantage of both the increases in fuel economy and a large reduction in your vehicles emission. Commercially available kits produce small amounts of hydrogen using the electricity generated by your car and add it to the gasoline air/fuel mixture the car is already running on. Prices range in cost from roughly two hundred dollars for kits composed of easy to find parts, to kits requiring specialty equipment that costs several thousand dollars.
When hydrogen fuel production begins on mega scale and will be easily available in big volume, we will definitely begin to see new inventions when we start using hydrogen gas in cars. Indeed, BMW are publicizing their work on a hydrogen fuel car but it is only a one off prototype without any commercial potential to date. Before that date when this becomes commercially viable arrives, home-made kits that use readily available parts and plain water can help the mechanically-inclined to get a long up on the technology. Instructions for creating your own water to gas kits are found on the internet through sites such as Water4gas.
It’s not only do-it-yourselfers and automobile manufacturers paying attention to hydrogen gas in cars, energy companies and even governments are now exploring hydrogen fuel technology. With more interest along with financial resources to back up continuing research, the day may soon come that hydrogen gas will be the fuel of choice powering your car.
Filed under: Computers & Technology