Toy hydrogen-powered car offers glimpse of future (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

Monday, July 24, 2006; Posted: 12:32 p.m. EDT (16:32 GMT)

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- It's a dream that's been pursued for years by governments, energy companies and automakers so far without success: Mass-producing affordable hydrogen-powered cars that spew just clean water from their tailpipes.

So Shanghai's Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies decided to start small. Really small.


This month, it will begin sales of a tiny hydrogen fuel-cell car, complete with its own miniature solar-powered refueling station. The toy is a step toward introducing the technology to the public and making it commercially viable.

"Public awareness and education are the first steps toward commercialization," said Horizon founder Taras Wankewycz, 32. "We want to make sure this technology gets adapted globally."
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/07/24/china.hydrogen.car.ap/index.html

A very clever move, IMHO. Maybe this will help people understand how hydrogen works as a fuel -- there's no shortage of hydrogen atoms, they're just mostly combined with oxygen in water. It takes energy to separate them, leaving pure hyrdogen (H2). Then when the H2 is burned you get H2O back, plus the energy (minus losses due to inefficiency).

BTW, Edmund/Estes makes a hydrogen-fueled rocket: http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3053531

[Nomad559]

1. The GM Hy-wire - Hydrogen fuel cell

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x26512

:)

[endarkenment]

2. Toys: the future of hydrogen power.

yeah I guess that sums it up. As H2 extraction currently requires more energy to extract than you get back it is pretty much a non-starter as an energy source. Once extracted it at least is a possible vehicle fuel so it isn't totally useless. The question remains where are we going to get the extraction energy required to produce the hydrogen to power our vehicles? Seems like H2 doesn't really solve the energy problem.