Hydrogen Gas In Cars Is On the Horizon

By Adrian Fletcher

Your vehicle is probably running on ethanol-enhanced gasoline as this is currently the cheapest fuel you will find at the gas station. Ethanol has been touted as the answer to reducing Americas dependence on foreign oil supplies as well as reduction in greenhouse gas emission levels. People are beginning to question this proposition as producing swathes of crops is possibly as inefficient as the fuel it produces. Ethanol is a fuel that cars have been using to run without optimization for a long time, so obviously its not the right choice. A new contender for better fuel economy is using hydrogen gas in cars.

Using hydrogen gas in cars gives numerous more advantages over ethanol and gasoline fuels. Hydrogen gas is a better and cleaner burning fuel leaving no carbon behind but emits only water vapor consisting mainly of majority of nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up more than three-quarters of the air we inhale. Hydrogen fuel roughly gives two-thirds better fuel economy at half the cost of gasoline.

There appears to be two major concerns involved in converting to hydrogen gas cars. The first is distance from a hydrogen gas generation facility which may be the most difficult to overcome. Creating the infrastructure, a kin to all the gas stations that you see on every other corner of a street is a massive undertaking. Without available refueling stations, you will have problems finding the hydrogen fuel for your vehicle. The second issue revolves around designing a viable on-board fuel generation system to continuously power the vehicle.

The process of producing great quantities of hydrogen fuel on board a vehicle to burn instead of gasoline still faces technological limitations, compromising widespread use of this technology on the road. A few automobile manufacturers planning to manufacture fully hydrogen-powered vehicles are also planning to produce home hydrogen gas fueling stations. This will not only allow you to fuel your car but also generate power for your dwelling, giving you a big cost reduction in energy expenditure and help in environmental protection.

A few viable alternatives exist for converting your gas-powered car into a hydrogen fuel hybrid which will let you benefit from both increases in fuel economy and a big reduction in the car's emissions. There are kits for sale that output a small amount of hydrogen fuel. They do this by using a supply of water and the electricity from your car to produce hydrogen and mixing that with the existing gas that is already powering the car. Such kits can be simple models that can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, or specialty deluxe models that will set you back thousands.

When hydrogen fuel production begins on mega scale and will be easily available in big volume, we will definitely begin to see new inventions when we start using hydrogen gas in cars. Indeed, BMW are publicizing their work on a hydrogen fuel car but it is only a one off prototype without any commercial potential to date. Before that date when this becomes commercially viable arrives, home-made kits that use readily available parts and plain water can help the mechanically-inclined to get a long up on the technology. Instructions for creating your own water to gas kits are found on the internet through sites such as Water4gas.

Hydrogen gas technology has been a focus of governments, energy companies, auto manufacturers and backyard mechanics alike, when all these groups get their findings out there it is going to allow for great leaps in hydrogen technology. - 21392

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