Electric and hybrid cars are in focus these days and while we see the likes of Toyota, Ford and Honda coming up with their own concepts, there is one car that has been lingering in the back and that happens to be the GM Hydrogen4.
The GM Hydrogen4 is powered by a fuel cell, the technology which many hope will all but remove cars from the global-warming equation. Fuel cells take hydrogen and oxygen and combine them, in a reversal of the electrolysis process, to produce electrical power to drive the car. The only tailpipe emission is harmless hot water vapor.
The HydroGen4 feels much in line with its standard, petrol-powered counterpart; it does not quite have the “thump in the back” acceleration from standstill of purely battery-powered cars. But apart from its notable quietness, there are far fewer moving mechanical parts in a fuel-cell drivetrain compared with petrol or diesel. Even the extra weight of the still-prototype drivetrain (fuel cell plus electric motor), at 600kgs, has no seriously detrimental effect; it being packaged very low down in the car and sited amidships.
Filling HydroGen4’s tank is only a little more complex, and takes only a little longer, than filling a conventional car at the petrol and diesel pumps. Safety is a priority: a puncture at pressures of around 10,000lbs per square inch would probably propel the car from Berlin to Munich.
(Source) Financial Times
Tags: diesel pumps, electrolysis, fuel cell, fuel cells, hybrid cars, tailpipe emission