What is a Hydrogen Car Engine
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Water is used for a lot of things. We drink it, wash with it and recently, engineers have discovered that this can be used in vehicles as well. There is now a hydrogen gas engine which can be found in the hybrid vehicle made by BMW.
What makes this news so exciting is the fact that it is an alternative form of technology. We are using a renewable resource to power our cars thus reducing the demand for oil which is a non-renewable source of energy.
While we now have that technology, we are years away from making it more efficient. BMW has only been able to make a car travel for less than 5 miles per gallon using water. No one else has taken the initiative to follow suit because they are already content with fuel cell technology.
One car that uses fuel cell technology in their hydrogen car engine is Honda with their FCX. The fuel cells in the vehicle convert hydrogen into electricity which is used to drive the wheels electric motors. This allows the vehicle to travel a maximum of 150 miles but because the engine is so big, there is no more room for passengers and cargo. The price tag for this vehicle fetches for $3 million so again, only a handful few will be able to use it.
The hydrogen car engine that is found in the BMW HR2 and 7 series uses an internal combustion engine system or ICE. Using a small amount of hydrogen, it adds to the normal air intake and gasoline mixture thus producing no carbon dioxide residue or pollutants. Tests have shown that the air that comes out is cleaner than the air that goes into the vehicle.
Ford Motor Company gave a valiant effort to try and use the same system that BMW uses when they launched the P2000 but was still unable to cope with the challenges of reducing nitrous oxide emissions.
But a hydrogen car engine is just one of the challenges that engineers had to face. They also had to come up with a storage tank that will be able to hold hydrogen given that it is highly flammable. BMW was able to overcome that problem by making a fuel tank that is both vacuum-insulated and double-walled. Three active safety valves were also installed to prevent possible leaks in the jacket around the fuel tank.
To be sure, the combustion chambers are cooled by air before hydrogen and air both flow into the cylinder.
So the news of a hydrogen car engine that has been developed is great news. The question now is can you buy a car that uses it and bring it home? The answer is no because there are still a few issues that need to be worked on.
When BMW developed this car in 2004 and launched a new one again in 2007, this was merely to show people that it was possible. You might even that it was a publicity stunt since only a hundred were produced and this was given to selected individuals.
What is even worse is that the company does not have any intentions of making new ones. This means that yes it was great to see in an auto show but no one who attended the event will be able to buy it and bring it home.
So what happens now? Given that it is possible to make a vehicle using a hydrogen car engine, other car manufacturers should explore the possibility of making their own versions even if fuel cell technology in cars like Toyota and Honda are doing so well in the world market.
For all we know, they are already doing it and have not yet made plans to present it to the public. The only thing ordinary folks can do is wait until they unveil their new models that hopefully will now have a hydrogen car engine.
The hydrogen car engine that we see now is not new given that it is already used by the aerospace industry to send rockets and shuttles into space. Since it works there, some believe that it can also be used in commercial aircraft because of the low density so maybe in a few years cars will also be using it.
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