The rise in price of oil, the volatility of the oil market, and the increasingly stringent environmental regulations - all these factors are putting pressure on carmakers and their suppliers as never before. The result is that research into alternative powertrains and fuels has never been as intense as it has been over the past few years. The fuel cell vehicle is not exactly a revolutionary solution but over the past 15 years the car companies expended billions of dollars into their development. DaimlerChrysler and Ford have been collaborating in this area, taking it step further last September when they created NuCellSys.This company focuses on ways to integrate fuel cell drives into vehicles. General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota have also all been very public about their activity in fuel cell development over the years. However, as the internal combustion has been given another lease of life, the hydrogen economy has been pushed back to being a problem for tomorrow as far as the automotive industry is concerned. It was some years ago that many car producers believed that the crossover point when the production of fuel cell vehicles exceeded that of conventionally powered cars would be between 2015 and 2020. This timeframe is now considered unrealistic. Fuel cell vehicles can run on a variety of fuels and therefore offer mobility independent of the limited resource, petroleum. They can either carry the hydrogen used to generate electricity in the fuel tank or they can use a reformer to obtain it from liquid fuels such as the hydrogen storage medium methanol. Hydrogen is available in unlimited quantites and can be obtained from water, natural gas or as a by-product of the chemical industry. The electrolysis of water is the simplest method. However, this process requires a great deal of energy. Only if the electricity for the electrolysis comes from water power, wind power or solar energy would there not be emissions involved from the time the fuel is created to the time it is used in the vehicle. There is also the issue of how hydrogen can be transported on a vehicle. One method has been researched is 'nanostorage' in which the hydrogen atoms are attached to the the surface of extremely small tubular carbon fibres. Another is the metal-hydride principle, in which the hydrogen is stored in the interstices of pressed metallic alloy powder. The obvious choice for fuel is gasoline, but it remains unclear, wheather the gasoline-powered fuel cell can also offer a real gain over the internal combustion engine. In any case, it does not offer the advantage of beeing independent of oil. In practice, the fuel cell car is still a long way from going into series production. While the advocates of the hybrid car point to the sales volumes of models like the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrid, especially in North America, in reality they only account for a very small percentage of overall sales and hardly constitute a viable return of investments. Renault says that there is no real business case for the hybrid. If the hybrid car does not make sense, then there is even less of a case for the fuel cell vehicle. Perhaps a pointer to the future is China. It was in late 2004 that GM and Shanghai Automotive entered an agreement to develop and produce hybrid and fuel cell cars. GM believes that fuel cells powered by hydrogen offer the ultimate environmental answer. China is in a unique position to take the lead in moving toward a hydrogen-based economy.
Vision and reality
Vision und Realität
Automotive Engineer ; Feb. ; 22-25
2006
3 Seiten, 5 Bilder
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
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