How Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars Work
During the reaction hydrogen and oxygen combine to produce.
How hydrogen fuel cell cars work. Fuel cells are designed to be flat and thin mainly so they can be stacked. Just as hydrogen is forced into the fuel cell at the anode oxygen is forced in at the cathode. There is one crucial difference between hydrogen fuel cell cars and other electric vehicles hydrogen cars produce the electricity themselves. Refueling a fuel cell vehicle is comparable to refueling a conventional car or truck.
What makes a hydrogen car possible is a device called a fuel cell which converts hydrogen to electricity giving off only heat and water as byproductsbecause its non polluting hydrogen seems like the ideal fuel for the 21st century. The protons and electrons reunite at the cathode and join with the oxygen to form water most of which become the fuel cells exhaust. A fuel cell produces electricity by means of electrochemical reactions between a fuel typically hydrogen and the oxygen in the air. A fuel cell hydrogen car works by combining hydrogen with oxygen in a process that produces energy.
Some leases may cover the cost of refueling entirely. Bbc news 8 june 2015. The hydrogen fuel cell car emits only pure water at the tailpipe which is clean enough to drink and therefore does not contribute to local pollution. Pressurized hydrogen is sold at hydrogen refueling stations taking less than 10 minutes to fill current models.
It only takes a minute or two to fill the. Hydrogen fuel cell cars return for another run by lawrence ulrich. The more fuel cells in the stack the greater the voltage of the electricity that the stack produces. The new york times april 16 2015.
Youve probably heard about fuel cellsin 2003 president bush announced a program called the hydrogen fuel initiative hfi during his state of the union address. A lot of people in the government and the auto industry are excited about its potential. Toyota pioneer of hybrid cars is now betting on hydrogen fuel cells as a way of increasing the range of electric vehicles. This initiative supported by legislation in the energy policy act of 2005 epact 2005 and the advanced energy initiative of 2006 aims to develop hydrogen fuel cell and infrastructure technologies to make fuel cell vehicles.
Electric cars and plug in hybrids explained. Widespread use of fuel cell hydrogen cars could also potentially reduce the worlds. Once filled the driving ranges of a fuel cell vehicle vary but are similar to the ranges of gasoline or diesel only vehicles 200 300 miles.