Cars running on hydrogen n oxygen in 2001???

from JoeUser Forums
I saw this advertising in an old national geographic mag (2001) of this engine by Ford that runs thanks to a combination of hydrogene and oxygene.

Apparently blended together these two elements get sparks flying, engine going, and tyres running. And its pollution free, the only "waste" produced out of this trick would be water.

They said the 1st commercialized vehicle would be out in the same year in Germany. Did this ever happen??? I'm curious but lazy to search through the net to find out.

So is this true?? Or was i to naive as usual?

Thanx for helping out
2,380 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
We have a hyrogen powered car that can go over 180 mph:

Link

And BMW showed this in 2000:

Link

IG
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hydrogen powered vehicles are nothing new these days. The real problems are:

1. Hydrogen is expensive and not readily available everywhere.

2. Hydrogen is far more explosive than gasoline. Remember the Hindenburg? Imagine the fiery crashes on the highways if hydrogen cars were abundant.

3. The costs to mass produce these cars is prohibitive right now. The automobile companies have no incentive to build these cars on a large scale, particularly in light of #'s 1 and 2.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Thank you for your lights Info Geek & Manson M:)
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Well, what's wrong with having an engine capable of synthesizing its own Hydrogen and Oxygen from water?
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Well, what's wrong with having an engine capable of synthesizing its own Hydrogen and Oxygen from water


Practicality mostly. That idea has been bashed around for years now with little in the way of solution. The simplest way to seperate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water is to pass an electric current through it. To design a car capable of doing this is impractical. The weight of the unti alone would be masssive. And pretty much most of the energy derived would be needed to maintain the seperation system, leaving little to provide to the drive train.

While prototypes of these kinds of fuel cell systems have been designed and built, they are a long way from anything close to the practical designs needed for mass production.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Why is hydrogene so expensive? I mean if it can be found in water and that our planet is mainly water it shouldnt be such a rare thing. And from what MasonM said all it takes is just a bit of electricity. Surely there must be a lot more to that?

It would be so much better if we could run around in those cars: less pollution and less dependency on middle east petrol producers...
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top

mean if it can be found in water and that our planet is mainly water it shouldnt be such a rare thing. And from what MasonM said all it takes is just a bit of electricity. Surely there must be a lot more to that?


you musta missed chemistry the day they did the experiment with the balloons?  (i did too cuz they wouldnt permit me to take the class but i had spies )  as mason explained, the energy required to produce enough electricity exceeds the amount of energy available at the end of the process.  sorta like if you had to generate electricity by using an electric motor to power the generator.


btw i attended our lady of perpetual motion hs.

Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
'BIG SIGH' yes indeed, i hated chemistry at school, and as a result i am an idiotic blogger!
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
See, the only part I was missing was how much energy it took to separate Hydrogen and Oxygen.
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ooh, phew! thanx for that last comment history, i suddenly feel like i'm not so dumb, just ignorant, but as long as we're all willing to learn...
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
2. Hydrogen is far more explosive than gasoline. Remember the Hindenburg? Imagine the fiery crashes on the highways if hydrogen cars were abundant.


Actually, hydrogen is quite a bit less dangerous than gasoline. If a container of hydrogen breaches and ignites, it basically acts like a blow touch- just one area where there's a jet of fire. A can of gasoline will explode (or all igninte) if it is breached and ignites. Part of that would be that the hydrogen is under pressure in an oxygen free environment, so only the H2 that is escaping at that moment can mix with O2 and burn.

And the Hindenburg's hyrdogen wasn't the problem. It was the waterproofing material on the canvas that burnt. Popular Science (or possibly Mechanics) tested a remaining fragment of the skin a few years ago. Result: FWOOM! It basically exploded. I've even read that the substance that was painted on was basically thermite. That's a compound used in welding railroad tracks and incindiary ammunition. It burns at 3000 C.