Ford/Nissan/Daimler: common fuel cell system

[DocM]

http://m.detnews.com/autos/article?a=2013301280367&f=1213

Ford, Nissan, Daimler team up for common fuel cell system development

The race is on to produce fuel-cell-powered automobiles.

Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Daimler AG on Monday announced an agreement develop a common automobile fuel cell system, which is expected to lead the launch of the world's first mass-market fuel-cell vehicles by 2017.

The automakers said Monday they will collaborate on a global program across three continents in an effort to signal to suppliers, policymakers and the industry the seriousness of developing an emission-free technology.

Ford, Nissan and Daimler expect to develop a common fuel cell stack and fuel cell system and anticipate lower development costs as a result of the collaboration.

The announcement comes days after BMW Group and Toyota Motor Corp. agreed to develop components for fuel-cell vehicles.

The two companies last week confirmed plans to develop a fuel-cell vehicle system, including a fuel cell stack and system, a hydrogen tank, motor and battery by 2020.

In fuel-cell vehicles, the fuel cell stack converts hydrogen gas with oxygen into electricity to power an electric motor. Fuel-cell vehicles emit only heat and water, but production costs, storage systems, public acceptance and durability remain major hurdles for automakers.

And much like other forms of alternative energy, a lack of hydrogen refueling stations could prolong the time needed to bring fuel-cell vehicles to the mass market.

[Fish]

This is the future, no doubt about it in my mind. We the consumers need these big players to really get behind this technology and bring it into our everyday lives.

production costs, storage systems, public acceptance and durability remain major hurdles for automakers.

...as it was once before, right at the beginning. But here we are today, with more technology and resources available. Can't really see a problem?

[DocM]

There have always been two rubs as regards fuel cells;

a) cost of the stack. Progress has been coming fast here

b) storage of the hydrogen. H2 gas has very tiny molecules that penetrate the structure of many materials, degrading them over time which can cause bad things to happen. Storing the H2 in a metal hydrate works, you jusg heat them to extract the H2, but is heavy and expensive.

Some recent work takes a different approach; store the. H2 as distilled water and use metal nanoparticles to break it down in bulk and rapidly; the O2 forms an oxide with the metal and the H2 os released for use. The smaller the nanoparticles, the faster the H2 can be produced. Downside: you have to refuel with 2 items; the nanoparticle supply and the distilled water.

Another alternative is to include a reformation device that can convert natural gas into H2 gas. These already exist and have been used for small home power systems using natural gas.