Thursday, September 21, 2006

Car of the Future

Wired magazine had a feature on hydrogen fuel cells for cars a while back but this video provides a much better idea about what the car of the future will be like. Not difficult to imagine the possibilities for rent a car agencies and swap shops to put different bodies on the main car "skateboard". Need to go back and refresh on what the Hydrogen gas station would be like.

  • What is the pump like? Hydrogen made from Zinc and steam
  • What's the mpg? target of 80 mpg
  • How much will it cost? too soon to tell but then with regular gas prices going up anything might seem cheap
Problems:
  • Because fuel cells are wet inside, they tend to freeze and stop working in cold weather.
  • Because they are delicate, they aren't suited for bumpy roads.
  • Because they require rare metals such as platinum to coat their membranes, they are expensive.
Interesting that some Canadian companies are at the forefront:
  • Ballard Power Systems hydrogen fuel cells from Vancouver
  • fuel cells made by Hydrogenics of Toronto

Better practice your video games so you will know how to drive.

GM Hydrogen car

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