Why isn't hydrogen gas considered for fueling cars? It can be made relatively safe.?

Question

Think about it. Take water, seperate hydrogen from oxygen, get fuel. Exhaust? Heat, and air. It's already been done in some motorcycles. Not very expensive either.

Answer 1

Hydrogen is being considered for fueling cars.  Tons of money is being put into its research, but there are many problems with it.

1) Cost.  It is indeed expensive to separate the hydrogen from oxygen through a process of electrolysis.  It takes a lot of energy and is currently extremely inefficient.

2) Energy.  Using energy to perform electrolysis is a waste when you could directly use that energy to fuel a car.  Until the process becomes more efficient, it's wasteful.

3) Transportation and Storage.  Hydrogen gas is not easy to transport and store - there's currently no infrastructure for it.  It would cost billions of dollars to create such an infrastructure, and who's going to pay for that?  Especially since we don't have the technology to use hydrogen as a fuel for cars yet.

A more promising way of using hydrogen is to get it from aluminum-gallium alloys.  Combining them with water will produce hydrogen.  That way you just need to fill up with aluminum alloy pellets and water, which basically solves all the problems listed above (cost is close to gasoline).  The technology is still new and there may be a problem with the amount of heat produced by the reaction, but it's quite promising.  Still many years away though.

Answer 2

Because:

1) It costs more to produce than an energy equivelent amount of petroleum based fuels

2) It has a low energy density making transportation and storage difficult

Answer 3

It IS expensive.  I'm pretty sure all the hydrogen vehicles are more expensive and getting the hydrogen into a tank is also expensive currently.

And no hydrogen filling stations yet.

But it IS being done.  BMW has declared hydrogen is the future fuel for cars (in their belief).  Ford has hydrogen vehicles (mostly busses) in production.

So it is being considered.

Answer 4

You people know nothing about this subject. I am an expert. I am building a hydrogen vehicle.

Hydrogen is being looked into for cars in 2 ways, combustion and fuel cells. I know about combustion, not fuel cells, but fuel cells aren't gonna be ready til' 2050 or so.

Clearly the most practical use of hydrogen is hy-boosting. That is when you use a conventional fuel such as gasoline and add in a 5% to 7% boost of hydrogen gas. Below 5% wouldn't make a difference and adding more than 10% gets you dangerous backfires.

Doing this 5% boost, you characterize the event like a hydrogen event. It's like pouring gasoline all over wood to get the fire going. The hydrogen makes the liquid fuel burn 10 times quicker. It lets you burn ANY liquid fuel in your engine! Ethanol, biodiesel, gasoline, diesel, vegetable oil, butanol you name it. It also doubles your fuel efficiency and gets rid of the unburned gasoline and carbon monoxide in the exhaust.

I'm trying it.

For books on the subject, go to knowledgepublications.com

Answer 5

Hindenburg was helium, not hydrogen :)

Answer 6

OK the relies  cover most everything. Making it at present pollutes more than just using gas or diesel.

Fuel cells are a real interesting answer and 10 years ago  they were 20% lighter than a horsepower internal combustion engine. Have no moving parts. produce  carbon dioxide and water as their polutants and produce  more  energy.

I don't understand why they are not being developed.

Oh yes just FYI gasoline is much more explosive than  hydrogen and if you research it the Hindinberg killed very very few when it "exploded" .

Answer 7

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! FUNNY!

Answer 8

the amount of energy you get out of making hydrogen that way is less than the fossil fuels used to split the water into hydrogen.  Even if the power source was coming from solar cells, that power would be better used in the power grid because more of the power it generates will actually be used where as half of it would be lost in the electrolysis process.  Hopefully, we will soon find a way to produce mass amounts of hydrogen without requiring so much energy.

Answer 9

Hydrogen is explosive. Pressurized hydrogen, which is essential for space-saving considerations, isn't just explosive... it's incredibly explosive. Unless you plan on using hydrogen to put something into orbit, the explosive force is a real problem.

Answer 10

It is called Fuel cell car.  Some car makers have already done the road test.

Answer 11

it is being considered... it will also be used to power houses in the future

Answer 12

From what I've read, it would be harder to have available even than gasoline is, and therefore even more expensive.  So, IF they find a way to make it safe (it's quite combustible in the right conditions), then they also have to find a way to make it affordable, or no red-blooded American I know will make the switch.

Answer 13

List of cars that use hydrogen fuel cell technology. Excerpt from Wikipedia:

BMW — The BMW Hydrogen 7 is powered by a dual-fuel Internal Combustion Engine and with an Auxiliary power based on UTC Power fuel cell technology. The BMW H2R speed record car is also powered by an ICE. Both models use Liquid Hydrogen as fuel.

DaimlerChrysler — F-Cell, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle based on the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.

Ford Motor – Focus FCV, a hydrogen fuel cell modification of the Ford Focus, and E-350 buses, which began being leased in late 2006.

General Motors — multiple models of fuel cell vehicles[29] including the Hy-wire and the HydroGen3

Honda – currently experimenting with a variety of alternative fuels and fuel cells with experimental vehicles based on the Honda EV Plus, most notable the Honda FCX, powered by a front-mounted 80 kW AC electric motor, with 20 kW pancake motors providing supplemental power to the rear wheels. Electrical energy is provided by a 100 kW hydrogen fuel cell, with regenerative braking energy stored in ultracapacitors. Production versions of the FCX are expected to arrive in 2009.

Hyundai — Tucson FCEV, based on UTC Power fuel cell technology

Mazda - RX-8, with a dual-fuel (hydrogen or gasoline) rotary-engine [30]

Nissan — X-TRAIL FCV, based on UTC Power fuel cell technology.

Morgan Motor Company – LIFEcar, a performance-oriented hydrogen fuel cell vehicle with the aid of several other British companies

Toyota – The Toyota Highlander FCHV and FCHV-BUS[31] are currently under development and in active testing.

Volkswagen also has hydrogen fuel cell cars in development.

Answer 14

I do not know where you got the "not very expensive" idea. It takes more dollars of electricity to make enough hydrogen from water to replace one gallon of gas than it costs to buy one gallon of gas. So I can run a motorcycle on gasoline bought at the gas station more cheaply than I can on hydrogen I make myself with electricity I buy from my electric company. Now if you make your own electricity more cheaply that the power company, then you have something good. If you figure out how to make that electricity cheaply, let me know, because I would like to reduce my electric bill.

Answer 15

It is being considered and developed.  But it's still more expensive than gasoline.  And a network of hydrogen refueling stations need to be constructed.

Hydrogen cars will (must) come.  Don't expect them in large quantities for years.

Answer 16

Um...the Hindenburg? Maybe.

Answer 17

The problem is that the hydrogen that is needed to make these devices run is not readily avbailable. Hydrogen can be extracted from natural gas and from water (by using electricity), but it probably costs more to produce the hydrgen that to simply use the gas and electricity for other purposes.

Furthermore, there is presently no storage and distribution system for hydrogen, even if it were available.