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