Well, it looks as if this is a possiblilty. What do you guys think. i 've been reading about the new hydrogen cars and it seems like there is a lot of options. I know BMW makes a 7 series that runs on hydrogen, but has the normal 12 cylinder engine. There is also a Ford car that uses hydrogen to convert to electricity. TO me I don't see a lot of cool mods for the totally electric version. But as for the hydrogen combustible engine, that would be cool. I would drive one, especially if it ran just like a gasoline powered vehicle.
They are saying that the real hurtle is to get re-fueling stations for these cars all over the country. I have read that they(gov.) are working with BP(British Petrolium) to get the technology available to the fueling stations. I also read that the station would cost 4.5 million a piece to build. Reason for the large price is, the station would not only sell the hydrogen, but produce it as well. No shipping cost for fossil fuels(gasoline).

All this seems to be a cool way to go, I think they should have done this many years ago. In 1973 there was a group of college kids that built a AMC Gremlin into a hydrogen burning vehicle but from what I understand, FORD or Chebby bought it out before it could be produced. They were still stuck on oil at that time.

The next 8-15 years should be very interesting to watch for the car business.

The car manufacturers are supposed to be real excited about this because the shape of the fuel cell no longer has to be a rectangular shape, they said it could be any shape and this opens up the door for new designs of vehicles. They are stoked and I am stoked.

WHat do you guys think? :dunno

 

I think the idea is overdue. We should have been pursuing this technology a lot harder since the crunch in '73. You don't have to be an environmentalist to appreciate that hydrogen buring in an oxygen atmosphere produces water vapor as its emmission.

Just don't want to get rear-ended and do a Hindenberg.

 

The technology is evolving and it's coming so get ready. Cool thing about it is there is no combustion process in a fuel cell. Clean, quite power.

The sooner we get off oil the better - for a number of reasons.

 

I agree 110% however, we will always have a dependency on petroleum for as long as you and I are on this planet. It's our great great great grandkids that will benefit from what we do today.

RP

 

RockPick- I'm not sure if I completely agree with you. You have a good point, but I think you might be underestimating the rate with which hydrogen power is going to catch on. IMHO, once a sufficient network of hydrogen stations (as well as hydrogen cars) are out there, its going to spread like wildfire. Hydrogen car models will become easier to build and cheaper for the consumer, the fuel will become easier to produce, etc...

Could be an interesting next 20 years...

 

Not to mention we won't have to worry about the water supply. Hell get a good water filter put it on the exhaust with a 1 gallon jug and you got yourself some drinking water...

 

I'm all for it, and say 'bring it on'. But...did you guys think about this....Once fuel cells are all that Detroit produces, and the gasoline-fueled IC engine is phased-out, there will be no reason for the refineries to produce gas! It will be hard to get and VERY expensive. What will that do to the collector car market? If I want to go for a cruise in my Cutlass convert., the gas will be what...$10, $20+ per gallon? Old cars will be museum pieces, and never driven. If that technology carries over to lawn mowers, chain saws, etc., there will be no need to produce gasoline.

But...Maybe synthetic fuels will be developed. Who knows? Maybe the Arabs will be giving their gas away and it'll be 30 cents a gallon again.

Just some things to think about.