It’s Aston Martin’s hundredth birthday this year. As part of their celebration the company’s new Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S will be creating history by becoming the first hydrogen-powered car to compete in an international race. The car is all set to compete in the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours at Nürburgring in the coming month.

Powered by a 6.0 liter V12, the vehicle is capable of running on gasoline, hydrogen, or a mix of both, and the company aims to run the car in pure H2 mode for a single lap of the Nordschleife, with only water being emitted by it.

According to Aston Martin, the Rapide S hits 60 mph in just 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 190 mph. To ensure safety, the car is coming with ultra-high strength carbon fiber tanks. A total of 3.5 kg of hydrogen at a pressure of 350 bar will be stored in four hydrogen tanks. It is similar in appearance to its non-hybrid counterpart, but there is the Hybrid Hydrogen sticker on the windshield and ‘007’ on the doors.

The ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24 Hours happens on May 19 and 20, where the new Rapide S will go against more than 150 cars on the 25 km circuit. The non-hydrogen Rapide S will hit Aston Martin showrooms in May, but the company currently has no plans to offer the hydrogen version commercially.

What do you think of hydrogen powered automobiles? Are they the future, or do think electric or another alternative source will eventually overtake traditional gasoline-based cars instead?

[Source]

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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?

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What you see in the above picture is Robojelly, a robot jellyfish designed by the researchers at Virginia Tech, which could be very useful in the future for underwater surveillance or search and rescue operations. You might be thinking that there is nothing new about a robot inspired by nature, but the robot jellyfish has a new trick up its sleeve. Theoretically, the Robojelly will go on working without ever running out of energy, as long as it’s in water.

The Robojelly is powered by hydrogen and is made up of materials called shape-memory alloys. Just in case you are preparing to refer to Wikipedia, shape-memory alloys are materials which are capable of returning to their original shape when heat is applied. The robot mimics a jellyfish’s movements via eight moving segments wrapped in platinum-coated carbon nanotubes.

When the oxygen and hydrogen in the water react with platinum powder, heat will be produced. The alloys will change shape due to this heat and propulsion occurs all thanks to the opening and closing movements of the segments.

The research paper has been published in the journal of Smart Materials and Structures and the project was led by Yonas Tadesse. According to him, “To our knowledge, this is the first successful powering of an underwater robot using external hydrogen as a fuel source”.

In the video, you will find an electricity-powered version of the Robojelly swimming in a water tank. The hydrogen-powered robot needs more work to be done on it and has only been tested while it’s clamped to the tank’s bottom. They are currently working to increase its maneuverability.

So, this is a robot which can stay underwater for a very long time as it can refuel itself from the water around it. That’s certainly very innovative. And yeah, almost forgot, the research is US Navy-backed, and you know what that means. Enemy submarines beware!

[Image Source]

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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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With the alarming problem of increased water consumption, this trend is a growing concern as we wonder if our planet, mother Earth, will be able to replenish the freshwater supplies before they run out.

Well, in case this worst case scenario ever comes to reality, MIT has the solution. An invention discovered and developed in one of their labs might be the answer to freshwater problems. When in contact with direct sunlight, the “artificial leaf”, as they call it, splits water molecules in hydrogen and oxygen gases which can later be stored in fuel cells. What this means is that it produces pure water, which is quite useful especially in the context of high pollution areas around the globe.

While the leaf (a semiconducting silicon coated with a special cobalt catalyst on one side and nickel-molybdenum-zinc alloy on the other) is still under research, there is hope that their idea will be usable at large scales in the years to come.

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With the recent news of Toyota opening a hydrogen fuel gas pipeline-fed fueling station for recharging fuel cell hybrid vehicles by 2015, it appears that hydrogen fuel may soon be a viable alternative. However, the technology to produce it must overcome a few barriers first. While hydrogen is lightweight, energy dense and only releases water upon combustion, hydrogen produced from natural gas results in huge CO2 emissions. Not to mention that the steam reforming process is highly energy intensive, and operates at temperatures of 850 C. Now, Researcher Mohamed Halabi at the University of Technology in the Netherlands has found a way to produce high purity hydrogen from natural gas at much lower temperatures, and without releasing C02 into the atmosphere. The method is called sorption enhanced catalytic reforming of methane, and uses novel catalyst/sorbent materials. With the new method, hydrogen is produced at much lower temperatures of 400 to 500 C.

The process is performed in a packed bed reactor using a Rhodium-based catalyst and a Hydrotalcite-based sorbent as a new system of materials. Hydrogen is produced on the active catalyst and the cogenerated C02 is effectively adsorbed on the sorbent, therefore preventing any emissions being released into the atmosphere. Additionally, the direct production of high purity hydrogen is achieved at lower pressures, and with a lower level of carbon oxides impurities at less than 100 ppm.

The reduction of the reactor size, material loading, catalyst/sorbent ratio, and energy requirements are key for the success of viable hydrogen fuel. Using this method, hydrogen could be produced using smaller hydrogen generation plants for residential or industrial application, eliminating the need for large and expensive refineries. The method is still experimental at this point, but it shows promise for a future hydrogen fuel market.

Photo: Eindhoven University researcher Mohamed Halabi at his research set-up. (Credit: Bart van Overbeeke)

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There are a few hydrogen fueling stations around the US, but this one in Torrance, California, is fueled by an active hydrogen pipeline, which would reduce the reliance on truck fuel deliveries.

The Shell station is built on land leased from Toyota, who promises to have a hydrogen vehicle on the market by 2015 or sooner. With cities willing to provide citizens with free EV charging, car makers pursuing hydrogen fuel technology have to make sure fueling stations are just as available to drivers.

Toyota’s first generation fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHV) had an estimated range of 130 miles. In 2009, the latest generation vehicle achieved an estimated range of 431 miles on one fill of hydrogen. Toyota is currently holding a nationwide FCHV demonstration program that is placing more than 100 vehicles with demonstration partners by 2013, providing one of the largest fleets of active fuel cell vehicles in the country.

Toyota hopes that with the fueling station and demonstration program, they will spur infrastructure development prior to the introduction of their FCHV in 2015. With successful charging stations in place for EVs, Toyota will have to introduce more than one refueling station to compete with the growing EV industry.

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This schematic shows high-capacity magnesium nanocrystals encapsulated in a gas-barrier polymer matrix to create a new and revolutionary hydrogen storage composite material. Credit: Image from Jeff Urban

Compared to gasoline, hydrogen is lightweight, has a higher energy density and has a variety of potential sources, like biomass. It sounds great, but there are a few drawbacks. Hydrogen-air mixtures can ignite with very low energy input. If air and hydrogen were to mix in an enclosed space, like a parking lot, a hydrogen leak could easily lead to an explosion if a flame was sparked. Due to hydrogen’s low energy ignition, hydrogen must be safely and densely stored.

In the past, researchers have managed to lock hydrogen into solids, packing larger quantities into smaller volumes with low reactivity. The problem was that most of the solids could only absorb a small amount of hydrogen and required a lot of heating or cooling to boost their energy efficiency.

But now, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy Berkeley Lab have managed to design a new composite material for storing hydrogen that’s made of nanoparticles of magnesium metal. The nanoparticles are sprinkled through a matrix of polymethyl methacrylate, which is a polymer related to Plexiglas. The material can absorb and release hydrogen without oxidizing the metal, which was a problem in the past. It is also able to do this at more modest temperatures, allowing for greater energy efficiency, which could lead to a major breakthrough for hydrogen storage, batteries and fuel cells.

The research is reported in a paper appearing in the journal Nature Materials.

[Nature Materials via PhysOrg]

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Suzuki is bringing Fuel-Cell vehicles one step closer to global adoption. The Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter packs a hydrogen tank which reacts with oxygen to produce electricity with water being the byproduct. It has been accepted by the European Union by obtaining Whole Vehicle Type Approval. This means the Burgman will not have to be inspected on an individual basis and any individual or company importing them can do so just as they would with any other approved vehicle without any hindrance in respects to vehicle admissibility. Prior to this, each Fuel Cell Scooter would have to be reviewed and inspected by a case by case basis. This news is a big step towards common acceptance as they are deemed safe. In the USA the D.O.T. uses a more lax self-governing approach by assuming importers abide by the importation laws and regulations set forth. In Canada it is much stricter and expensive as it would need individual testing and certification. With this news it will surely lead the way for other governments to accept the vehicle as safe and road worthy.

No pricing information has been released yet for the Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter, with this news Suzuki distributors should start bringing them in as soon as they are ready to roll off the line.

The Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter uses a single polymer-electrolyte type fuel cell made by Intelligent Energy. The fuel storage system is a high-pressure hydrogen tank (70MPa). Inside is a secondary battery made of Lithium-ion providing a total range of 350km per tank.

[Bikez, Suzuki GB]

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