

Researchers discovered ideal particles size for catalyst inside a fuel cell









Comments     Threshold


RE: Shows some promise
By acase on 9/18/2009 2:29:06 PM , Rating: 2
While I am sure it is plausible you know what you are talking about, I certainly didn't get anything out of what you tried to type. How about a better organized rant, and, I don't know, maybe some actual facts backing it? I really am interested in the negatives, since I've mainly heard about the positives.

RE: Shows some promise
By quiksilvr on 9/18/2009 2:46:17 PM , Rating: 2
Here you go.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell:
-Fuel source highly abundant
-No harmful emissions
-Lots of energy in fuel, meaning better range with smaller engines

-Much more expensive
-Hydrogen takes a lot of energy to process from water and even more energy to store securely
-Requires dedicated fueling stations
-Very fragile. A minor collision could completely damage the engine costing thousands of dollars

Electric cars:
-Fuel source highly abundant
-No harmful emissions
-Much cheaper
-Available now in a much wider variety
-Can be refueled anywhere that has a plug
-More durable in a crash

-Fuel source may be created from other materials that do leave emissions
-Lithium Ion batteries do not last forever and eventually have to be replaced in 5 to 10 years
-Range depends on battery capacity, meaning more weight and more price.

All in all, hydrogen fuel cells would be a great idea to convert water into energy, but I feel that it isn't the best solution for a car. What's the point of having a hydrogen fuel cell in your car that transmits energy to your electrical engine when you can just connect it to a battery?

Furthermore, lithium batteries are soon going to have an evolutionary jump into nanowire batteries ( ) giving way to much higher density batteries in a smaller package.

RE: Shows some promise




RE: Shows some promise


Hydrogen has its benefits, but not on the ground.

RE: Shows some promise


RE: Shows some promise

Much more research is definitely needed.


RE: Shows some promise



RE: Shows some promise
Average EV battery pack is ~10kwh

Say charging system is 200V.

10kwh / 200V = 50ah.







RE: Shows some promise
By drmo on 9/18/2009 5:36:46 PM , Rating: 2
I'm not sure the cost issue is as much a problem anymore. I thought the GM Volt battery was around 100 kW and cost about $10,000. Now, according to this:
fuel cells are down to $73 per kW, which would mean a 100 kW fuel cell would be $7300 to produce. But you also have to make the hydrogen, so the fuel is more expensive for now. If home reformers (from natural gas) become cheap, then that will help, because NG is cheaper than electricity.

As far as the other poster, I think the point was that a battery loses much less energy in its energy sequence than a fuel cell:
Electric: charge-discharge-motor sequence (93%+ electric line efficiency; 90% efficiency charge-discharge; then about 89%+ efficiency in battery to propulsion).
Fuel cell: (up to 50% for electric hydrolysis efficiency, up to 80% for natural gas to hydrogen conversion efficiency; then 40-60% fuel cell to motor efficiency).

Note, an internal combustion engine gets about a maximum of 30% efficiency. So a fuel cell is better than combustion anyway, but not more efficient than an EV.

RE: Shows some promise
By safcman84 on 9/21/2009 6:17:48 AM , Rating: 1
You forgot two of the main negatives of electric cars:

1) You need to plug them in and recharge them. Sound simple? Ever wondered where the electricity came from? Coal-power stations? Oil-power stations? Nuclear? Electric cars = zero emissions? Nope, dont think so.

2) Lithium-ion. Great stuff, until you need to get rid of it. Extremely toxic and therefore difficult to get rid of. Most of them will probably end up being dumped. so again, so much for the environmentally friendly thing.

Oh, Hydrogen might be expensive to produce now, as you need electricity to produce hydrogen from water but there are new processes that are becoming available (Bacteria produced hydrogen - basically recycling sewage water - for example).


Related Articles
