I went to the auto show in LA yesterday and saw a Toyota Concept car that runs on a hydrgen fuel cell. I aske

Question

the company representative about range and he estimated about 140 miles. Then i asked him about the hydrogen pressure in the tank and he said when it was fully pressurized it was at 10,000 psi. When you fill the tank the pressure in the resevoir must be higher or pumped to a higher pressure. I have worked on the space shuttle main engine and the pressure is well below that. The rocket engines have very frequent inspections along the way and have to be reworked frequently to get everything right. When I think of the problems with hydrogen at 10-12,000 psi , I thinkk the people at Toyota are smoking funny stuff, Don"t you agree?

Answer 1

For the environment, I'm lovin' Direct Carbon Fuel Cells. They have a bit larger footprint but the carbon is a beautiful thing for at least a couple of reasons.

First, flash carbonization can turn just about any biomass into biocarbon in minutes, providing a cheap, renewable fuel for the cells. Second, not all the carbon passes muster as a viable fuel and, so, must be sold to the World Bank BioCarbon Fund!!!! I totally LOVE that part!

All that carbon was drawn FROM THE ATMOSPHERE into the plants that became the biomass for the flash carbonization device. Most will be used as fuel with NO emissions. What isn't used as fuel goes into the soil to convert non-arable land into fertile fields.

So by driving, we're actually CLEANING UP the atmosphere!!!! Total topsy-turvy turn-around!

Who wouldn't love it?

...

Answer 2

I live near the North American headquarters of Toyota and am personally acquainted with numerous people who work there, including some who are working on the hydrogen-fueled car project.  Toyota has many practical engineers who know that a hydrogen-fueled car must be safe and dependable.  The safety and reliability of the hydrogen fuel storage system on their prototype cars is a solved problem.  

The unsolved problems with the hydrogen-fueled car are: (1) getting the price down enough so that you and I could afford to buy hydrogen cars -- right now, their prototype hydrogen fuel cars cost about a million dollars each -- and (2) making sure that enough refueling stations will be in business all over the place so that we could actually go somewhere in a hydrogen-fueled car.  Of course, it would be nice to have a longer range, as well.

Answer 3

140 miles to a tank..OK  How much more energy does it consume/cost per mile per gallon compared to the  gasoline engine?

Like the smoke screen about ethanol, you get half the gas mileage out of ethanol as you do with gasoline.

If I'm not mistaken, it costs a h**l of allot more per miles a gallon for hydrogen than it does for gasoline, and then your riding in a 12,000 psi bomb........No Thanks!!!

Answer 4

I completely agree. That is not safe, nor does it sound possible for a car.

MARS BY 2033!

Answer 5

The fuel cell will run OK at any pressure, it has no moving parts and basically is a sealed box with feeds of pressurised gasses and water as a product.  So it is not as dangerous environment as a rocket motor.

There is no doubt that pressurised hydrogen is going to be tricky to handle, the research at the moment is to develop ways of storing hydrogen in metal lattices at much lower pressures.  But since the research isn't producing commercially usable stores yet, Toyota have gone with the simplest way of showing a working hydrogen powered vehicle.  

It is after all just a concept car.