First impressions: Volkswagen's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle
This week, Volkswagen flew me to Sacramento to try out a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered Passat developed by Tongji University in China. I probably would have been a lot more impressed had I not recently spent a week driving the Honda FCX Clarity.
On the positive side, the VWs were drivable and they were apparently powered by hydrogen (Evidence: the copious amounts of water they periodically and loudly spat from their tailpipes). On the negative side, compared to the Honda, they were noisy, unrefined and slow. The Passat's fuel cell produces just 55 kilowatts (compared to 100 kW for the FCX Clarity), and stepping hard on the accelerator brought a series of warning beeps from the car and a thickly-accented admonishment from the engineer in the back seat. Contrast that to the guys at Honda, who sent me out with one simple instruction: "Just drive it like a regular car." Had this been my only exposure to a fuel-cell car, I'd be a lot less optimistic about hydrogen.
Fortunately, hydrogen isn't the only thing VW is working on, and they don't necessarily believe it's the best solution -- they think diesel is the future. Among the stuff they have in the works: biodiesel-friendly TDI engines (biodiesel is currently too thick for the fine openings in their common-rail injection systems), "mild" hybrids, and plug-in hybrids. They also showed a slide featuring a TDI Hybrid badge, but had no firm dates to announce. That's the one I'm waiting for -- consider that the Jetta TDI gets 40+ MPG and the Toyota Prius hybrid gets 45+ MPG. Can you imagine what would happen if you put them together?
Anyway, I snapped a few pics of the fuel-cell-powered Passats (the lovely car-to-car shot above comes from Basem Wasef, About.com's Guide to Motorcycles -- thanks, B). Check them out here. -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Basem Wasef
Comments
I still believe hydrogen is the future but its obviously going to take more time to refine the technology. Honda is on the right track and it seems this VW outing is more akin to the hydrogen conversion kit for Arnold’s Hummer than the polished engineering of the FCX. If VW put their top engineers on the project instead of a group of students from a Chinese tech school I’m sure you would have seen better results. Still, its nice to know they are looking at everything.
I agree with the concept of merging technologies like a Hybrid TDI but how about a Plug-In Hydrogen or a Hybrid Natural Gas? In the end with broad thinking like this I think the new CAFE standards will not only be met in 7 years but surpassed by miles! Exciting stuff, can’t wait to see more!
Hydrogen is a terrible way to power a car.
1. It is a gas. To get a good range you must have a pretty big and heavy tank and store it under a lot of pressure.
2. It is really hard to keep Hydrogen from leaking. It is tiny.
3. It caused metals to become brittle. It actually works it’s way into the structure of many metals and makes them brittle.
4. It isn’t an energy source. It takes more energy to make hydrogen from water than you get out of it. Most hydrogen comes from natural gas. You waste the energy of the carbon bonds and release CO2 when you make Hydrogen from natural gas.
Methanol fuel cells makes more sense. It is liquid and one gallon of Methanol has more hydrogen in it than one gallon of liquid hydrogen. It isn’t perfect. It is some what toxic but then so is gas but people have been using it for fuel for decades even in camp stoves. It is also harder to transport than gas since it will absorb water just like ethanol does but that can be worked around. It also doesn’t get along well with Aluminum.
You can also make it from none food biomass, natural gas, and coal. It used to be called wood alcohol.
There are direct Methanol fuel cells under development right now for use in laptops and such.
You could also just burn it in an IC engine like they did in Indy for decades and they still do at hundreds of drag strips around the world but fuel cells would probably be a better choice for around town.
Hey there is an idea. A methanol/fuel cell hybrid. It uses fuel cells in stop and go traffic and an IC engine on the highway.
Aaron - any insights into what Toyota might be working on in this category. I’m sure they have something up their sleeves in the alternative fuels arena. What can we expect from them down the road? Not a big fan of Toyota cars but I figure they are the big guys so they must be up to something.
Matt: Toyota has their own prototype called the Highlander FCHV (Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle). I haven’t driven it, but I did see one parked at the California Fuel Cell Partnership in Sacramento, where we gathered to drive the Passats. Years ago, I reviewed Toyota’s battery-powered RAV4 EV and thought it was pretty good; clearly they have the running gear for a fuel-cell powered hybrid. I have to admit, though, that I haven’t been following their plans all that closely. — Aaron
Again, I must say I’m pleased that the field of alternative fuels is still wide open. Contrary to other opinions here, I still believe hydrogen is a great option and we know it is still in its infancy. Extracting and storing hydrogen has gotten a lot better in the last few years to the point of making it a viable option. So much so that hydrogen technology has been implemented in all the power plants across the state of Florida. With a bit more research and the unlimited supply I think we have a real shot at making it work. The problems with diesel, biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, or even natural gas is they are all finite sources. Think about all the resources required to produce enough methanol to power all the cars we have in the US alone! It’s not just a question of is it efficient and less toxic than gasoline. It’s a matter of can we mass produce with the supply levels we require and when will it run out?
It’s hydrogen all the way for me!
DFI Hydrogen isn’t a source of energy and is no more unlimted than methanol, ethanol, or biodiesel.
When you burn any of them you get water and for the bio fuels CO2.
For the bio fuels the plants take the CO2 and the water and make more… Biofuel.
To make Hydrogen you take water and put a lot of electricity in it or you take natural gas and put a good amount of energy in it and crack it.
If you have enough free power to make pure hydrogen you can make Methanol from water and air as well. Think of Methanol as just an easy way to store hydrogen at standard temperature and pressure if you wish.
I have no idea what you mean by “So much so that hydrogen technology has been implemented in all the power plants across the state of Florida. ”
But I live in Florida and have several friends that work for FPL. And umm… no power plants in Florida are using Hydrogen for fuel. And I can promise you that not all of them are producing Hydrogen in large amounts!
Hydrogen is good for rockets and welding but not cars.
Here’s a new twist…google “sea water powered car” and two You Tube videos pop up…check them out especially the one about the cancer cure that led him to find how to make sea water combustible…for cars!!! You guys are way more technoid than I…let’s have your takes!!!
DFI:
Good posts!
Gasoline constitutes about 61% of America’s transportation fuel needs. There’s enough urban and rural bio-waste produced in the US to replace about a third of our gasoline needs. If that bio-waste is converted into methanol and utilized in fuel cells, then about 66% of light vehicle fuel needs could be met by bio-waste. If those vehicles were plug-in-hybrids that only utilized electricity for just 34% of the fuel needs then biowaste and electricity alone could power all of our automobiles.
Of course, the synthesis of biowaste into fuel waste about 80% of its carbon content. If hydrogen were added to the mix from nuclear and hydroelectric power plants then the US could become completely independent of petroleum fuels altogether.
http://newpapyrusmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/01/nuclear-synfuel-economy.html