Although there are big obstacles ahead of them, Hyundai has big hopes for the future and has announced that they will start mass production of cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The company will begin building a hydrogen-powered Tucson ix SUVs at the company’s Ulsan plant in South Korea and their current aim is to sell 1000 of those zero-emission vehicles around the world by 2015. The immediate plan is that 15 of the new models will head to Denmark and two units to Sweden this April for municipal use.

Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Kim Eok-jo said, “We expect to realize an environmentally friendly era more quickly through the mass production of hydrogen fuel cell cars for the first time in the world“.

A hydrogen-powered vehicle is certainly good for the environment as it emits only water vapor after hydrogen is converted into electricity.

As for the performance of the vehicle, Bloomberg says that it lags behind its gasoline-powered rivals but gives a smooth driving experience. It produces 134 horsepower and accelerates from 0 to 60mph in just over 12 seconds. Hyundai says that the car can go for about 370 miles before there is a need for refuelling.

But refuelling is one of the problems as there is a scarcity of fuelling stations. Reports suggest that there are only 13 stations across South Korea, but more stations are also being planned. Another major problem is the production cost, with estimates suggesting a price tag of $200,000. In comparison, the standard Tucson costs $19,935. But the company is promising that the price can be lowered to around $50,000 by 2015 after the tech improves.

If all the problems are taken care of, finally we can take an eco friendly route by not relying too much on internal combustion engines. What do you think?

[Source]

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The Stanford scientists behind the work say that “carbon nanotubes could be an excellent alternative to the platinum, palladium and other precious-metal catalysts now in use.” Inside a fuel cell, the catalysts are needed to oxidize the hydrogen at the anode.

The study demonstrates that when they shred the other walls of a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) with the inner walls left intact, the MWNT gained “enhanced” catalytic ability. The electrical conductivity remained good too. When used in metal-air batteries, the potential is for batteries that have 10 times the theoretical energy density of “today’s best lithium-ion technology.”

Further research is needed, of course, but this could be the key to cracking the puzzle of more widespread fuel cell adoption.

[Source]

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A new portable fuel cell developed by Lilliputian Systems Inc (LSI) is being dubbed the “plug-less charger,” it will allow you to recharge the battery of your electronic device no matter where you are, and all you need is Butane.

The device, which is about the size of a thick smartphone, is coming with a solid oxide fuel cell membrane deposited onto a silicon wafer. Recyclable butane cartridges will be used to produce power, and, according to the company, each cartridge promises “several weeks of ‘always available’ Personal Power”. The fuel cell can be used to charge any device via the USB port.

Reportedly, the fuel cell lasts five to ten times longer than similarly-sized batteries. According to CNET, it will allow you to recharge your iPhone 4 a total of 10 to 14 times on a single cartridge. And it has been approved as a carry-on luggage item by the UN International Civil Aviation Organization and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

There have been no hints regarding the price tag, but the company says that it will be less expensive compared to conventional spare batteries. If interested, you can get one via Brookstone sometime in the near future. More details on the device will be available soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out a video about it courtesy of Mashable.

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As much as many users love their Macbooks, wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to recharge batteries so often? Apple seems to think so, and has recently raised a pair of Apple patent applications for fuel-cell powered Macbooks and other Apple devices. The patents placed were for “Fuel Cell System to Power a Portable Computing Device” and “Fuel Cell System Coupled to a Portable Computing Device.”

In the patent filing Apple had this to say:

Our country’s continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling. These problems have led to an increasing awareness and desire on the part of consumers to promote and use renewable energy sources.

Apple believes that the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool has helped increase customer awareness of environmental issues regarding electronic devices. As a consequence of this revelation, it is important to Apple that they explore alternatives like hydrogen fuel for future products.

Using hydrogen fuel most Apple devices would have power for days or even weeks without refueling the hydrogen system. The solution that Apple describes is a fuel system that can provide power to and receive power from a rechargeable battery like those found in MacBooks.

This is not Apple’s first show of interest in fuel cell technology, back in October AppleInsider revealed another set of patent applications from Apple that described lighter and more efficient hydrogen fuel cells.

Fuel cell technology is still a fairly new concept, at least in the capacity that Apple is proposing. While I won’t expect to pick up a MacBook Pro Fuel-Cell Edition anytime soon, I have seen stranger things come to pass in the world of technology.

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You know that Toyota Prius+ unveiled earlier this month? It’s only the beginning. Toyota is pledging to launch no fewer than ten new electric vehicles (which may or may not include hybrids) by 2015.

The flood gates are already opening. We’ve already been introduced to the iQ-based EV and the Yaris HSD, but these guys are getting joined by all sorts of other electrified peoplemovers like the taller Prius V and the “funkier” Prius C.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they carry the now iconic Prius moniker throughout the line of ten more electrics. After all, they’ve only done V, C, and + so far. They’ve got 24 more letters to go, not to mention the possibilities of using the entire array of mathematical symbols. The upcoming vehicles will include full EVs, as well as cars of the fuel cell variety.

[Toyota]

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Ready for another green energy alternative? You may already be familiar with solar panels and may have just equipped your home with geothermal heating, but what can you do to convert the sun’s rays into energy that is easily stored and transported?

Researchers from the United States and Switzerland have reportedly put together a prototype generator that offers an entirely different way to capture the sun’s energy compared to a conventional photovoltaic (solar) panels. The prototype has a quartz window and a cavity for focusing sunlight into a cylinder lined with cerium oxide (ceria).

When the sun’s rays heat up the ceria, it will thermochemically break down the water and carbon dioxide that is being pumped into the cylinder. The net result is carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can then be converted into liquid fuel. This hydrogen feul can then be used with hydrogen fuel cells. Alternatively, the hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixture could be converted into syngas, a combustible gas.

“The chemistry of the material is really well suited to this process,” says Professor Sossina Haile of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). “This is the first demonstration of doing the full shebang, running it under (light) photons in a reactor.”

Now, I’m no scientist, but there are at least two big concerns about such a generator. First, it needs energy to pump in the source materials (water and carbon dioxide). Second, it still outputs carbon monoxide, which to my knowledge, isn’t really a good thing unless you have some sort of greenhouse. At this stage of the game their prototype is very inefficient; fuel created harnesses only 0.7% to 0.8% of the solar energy taken into the vessel. The good news is that ceria is really abundant, so getting that stuff wouldn’t be too difficult.

[GizMag via BBC]

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Horizon HydroFILL station

Fuel cells are not some crazy technology from the future. They’re not inaccessible to the average Joe either, because pre-orders are now being taken for the Horizon MiniPAK, HydroSTIK, and HydroFILL products. These “alternative energy charging solutions” should offer plenty of juice for your mobile devices in a greener kind of way, even if the color scheme is largely black and blue. Starting with the $99.99 MiniPAK, you get a charging device that uses a passive air-breathing fuel cell and a solid state hydrogen storage unit.

For something substantially more hardcore, you can go ahead and drop a penny shy of five hundred bucks on the Horizon HydroFILL. This product can actually take regular old water, rip those hydrogen atoms away from the oxygen ones, and convert the hydrogen into power. Rounding out the trio is the $9.99 HydroSTIK. This is the fuel cartridge used in tandem with the MiniPAK, containing some hydrogen in a solid-state. For more info on all three, you can check out the Horizon website. No firm date for shipping has been announced yet.

Horizon MiniPAK

[Engadget via Horizon]

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The Bloom Box is a device about half the size of a milk carton, yet is powerful enough to revolutionize all aspects of life and transcend the human race into a sustainable, earth friendly society.

The box has been secretly tested by several large California corporations over the past 16 months and proven to be an efficient, clean, and affordable fuel-cell generation system that produces electricity. It has saved eBay over $100,000 in electricity bills over the nine months they have operated five units.

Speaking of fives, each box is calculated to be five times more efficient than the 3,248 solar panels eBay installed on their campus roofs which cost them $1M, however the Bloom Boxes set them back about $4M to power their server farms. Google, FedEx, Staples and Walmart are also among the first of 20 companies to sign on to the alternative energy technology. The “downside” is that it’s by-product is Co2, however, Co2 is what feeds plants, so perhaps it may not be such a “downside” after all.

Each box is made by Bloom Energy (BE) labs and takes them a full day to build, they sell from $700K to $800K, but we don’t know enough about it to know why it’s so expensive. Is it parts? Is it proprietary technology? Or just research? Time will tell, because BE plans to officially announce the “magic” box on Wednesday.  Their website currently has a countdown to the time of “launch”.

Imagine the possibilities, a technology that could be the answer to powering electric vehicles from home, sustainably. I envision a wide distribution of Bloom Boxes creating a massive grid generating stations throughout the homes of North Americans, and perhaps the entire World. Energy could be sold by households to others or businesses within their community. How well that would fly with current energy companies? Your guess is as good as mine. But many could remain as they are, as “middle-men” peddling energy services from other companies.

BE has plans to manufacture a smaller household sized unit for $3,000, we are to expect them in the next five to ten years. Bloom Energy CEO K. R, Sridhar each fuel cell is made of of sand and a secret ink formula, “the design will revolutionize the power industry”. The cells stack inside a metal box, a 64-cell stack could power a entire coffee shop.

If you know very little about fuel cell technologies as I did, you could read up on the Wiki. I had never heard of Dr. Sridhar until this weekend, what I found out about him is that when working as the director of the Space Technologies Laboratory at the University of Arizona, NASA approached him to create a way to sustain life on mars. The result, was a device capable of using solar energy and Martian water to power a reactor that would generate hydrogen to power vehicles and equipment, and oxygen to breathe. The Bloom Box?

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The new fuel cell power kit for model scale radio controlled racing cars is being announced this week at the International Toy & Hobby Fair in Nuremberg. Horizon has developed an H-Cell 2.0 battery adapter kit that sits above the battery on the chassis of the car.  Quite different then the H-racer we saw a long time back.

This new kit includes a device called HYDROFILL, which is a model scale refueling station that is using solar power or wind power to turn water into hydrogen; creating 100% renewable fuel for your RC.  It then sends the hydrogen to the two HYDROSTIK’s.  These are used to retain 12Wh of energy in each; which is approx. 10L of hydrogen.  These fuel cells are used for the cruising power; the small lithium battery is used for any acceleration power.  By dividing the power, the H-Cell 2.0 provides more run times (“factor of 3 of 4”) which lessens the amount of power from the battery that is required to run it.

Pricing has not yet been announced but the expected shipping date of March 15^th is coming fast so we should get word of it pretty soon.  Although the performance will not compare to a nitro car, it does compare well with other electrical cars.

H-Cell 2.0 Hydrogen Fuel System for RC Cars Image Gallery

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