Hydrogen hybrid Prius cars arrive in Golden State
Five experimental Toyota Prius sedans were delivered to the City of Santa Monica, California, on Thursday. Why experimental? All the hybrids are fueled by hydrogen gas instead of gasoline as part of the South Coast Air Quality Management District's (AQMD) plan to educate the public on hydrogen as a future fuel source. The hybrids will be fueled at hydrogen stations located in Santa Monica, Burbank, Ontario, Riverside, Santa Ana, and the AQMD's headquarters in Diamond Bar.Quantum Fuel Systems modified the vehicles to accept hydrogen and tested them for optimal performance.
[Source: Fuel Cell Works]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Danny 6:55AM (6/17/2006)
This is certainly admirable and I would hope to see a similar scheme in London, but doesn't running a car on hydrogen negate the need for it being a hybrid?
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Kendrew Leung 12:30AM (6/18/2006)
@#1: Does using less hydrogen when running as a hybrid count as a reason?
Seems like a good idea to me. Hope they come out with these, to the public (and more hydrogen fueling stations)
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Dale Cruse 3:05PM (6/18/2006)
Danny: It's not clear from this article whether the car is pure hydrogen based or a hybrid of hydrogen and electricity. If it's the latter, then it's still considered a hybrid.
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Keith P 5:00PM (6/18/2006)
Don't get the wrong idea. They aren't using the Hydrogen to power a fuel cell, they are basically replacing the gas in the car with Hydrogen. From what I understand they can use the same engine, they just have to replace some parts to handle the change in fuel source.
Since the Prius has a electric engine and a combustion engine it would be interesting to see if the Hydrogen fuel is more effeciently used in congunction with a fuel cell for the electric motor. Being the hacker that I am it would be killer to be able to use the same Hydrogen fuel source to power the electric or combustion motor and adjust settings based on how you drive.
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Seth Brundle 8:19PM (6/18/2006)
"doesn't running a car on hydrogen negate the need for it being a hybrid?"
Actually, it needs it more.
Current hydrogen car systems have relatively poor efficiency (less range compared to gasoline), and need more range (because of lack of refueling stations).
Also - despite its lack of emissions hydrogen today is mostly generated from fossil fuels, so conservation is still desirable.
Finally, if you found yourself fuelless in the middle of nowhere, the electric engine may be your only saving grace from a long expensive tow, assuming it is pluggable (I'd bet that it is).
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web design uk 5:58AM (6/19/2006)
Im up for this. Seems like a great idea.
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Renaldo 2:19PM (6/19/2006)
very interesting
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Bruno Vanzieleghem 2:23PM (6/19/2006)
Don't confuse efficiency with range.
The engine in the Prius concept is run on hydrogen instead of gasoline. Running a gasoline engine on hydrogen allows for lean fuel air mixtures and enables higher compression ratios. This results in a higher efficiency for the hydrogen powered engine. For equal amounts of energy entering the engine, the hydrogen engine will produce more energy.
However, since the engine is being run with lean fuel air mixtures to keep emissions and combustion temperatures at a reasonable level, the maximum power will be lower for the hydrogen engine.
Also, hydrogen has a lower energy density compared to gasoline. If you had a hydrogen tank that was able to hold the same amount of energy (not the same amount of gallons!) as the gasoline tank, your hydrogen powered car would be able to travel further, because of its higher efficiency.
Easier said than done though, your hydrogen tank would have to be about 4 times the size of the gasoline tank, and it needs to be cooled continuously to keep the hydrogen in liquid form. If the hydrogen is stored at high pressures in gaseous form, an even bigger tank is needed (and I believe these prototypes store hydrogen in gaseous forms). That is why the range for these cars will be significantly less than their gasoline powered versions.
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Renaldo 2:26PM (6/19/2006)
yeah seth. the Hydrogen cell is not close to being efficient enough. But a few years maybe 5 to 10 and we should be able to see the first ones run off of the assembly line.
But to me right now i think the wisest choice is probbly sugar cane. Because of the amount of sugar it contains (obviously) it creats alot of energy.
corn and all seems to far out there seign that u would have to cover half the citits in teh world just to have enough to make enough fuel lol.
one more concern is it really pheasable for a hydrogen cell and combustion engine to work together. hmm dont sound right
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