Fuel cell car debuts with promise of 250 mpg
July 16, 2009 by Tom GuayPosted in: Cost Cutting, Green Investing, Green Office, Latest News & Views, News, Technology, Waste & Pollution
The hydrogen-powered Freedom Car that President Bush pined for years ago has finally materialized. It promises a whopping 250 miles-per-gallon and a novel approach to getting around the lack of existing hydrogen refueling stations.
The two-seater by upstart car maker Riversimple has great styling and could ultimately put England back in on the motorcar manufacturing map. It’s powered by a 6-kilowatt proton exchange membrane fuel cell (made by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies in Singapore).
The hydrogen powered car is made in the UK by Riversimple for lease as an urban get-around-town vehicle. No pesky greenhouse gas emissions from this little guy.
With its futuristic and expensive look, it might be just the ride for sales reps who want to telescope “excitement” and “premium value” to their customers (provided it holds up better than the stylish two-seater of a generation ago, the MG).
Riversimple just unveiled its first demo in London. The company plans to get 10 prototypes on the road this year and will start leasing its first 50 cars by 2012. Once its “distributed manufacturing” plans are worked out to encourage small, independent companies to make the car, the company expects to produce up to 10,000 vehicles a year.
Ya gotta love a car company that’s into science fiction. The company notes that in 1874, Jules Verne predicted the use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel in his novel, The Mysterious Island. Click here for the reference on Riversimple’s Web site.
One big drawback with hydrogen-powered cars is lack of fuel availability.
To get around the refueling problem, Riversimple provides the fuel as part of the lease. This not only insulates the driver from fuel costs, but forces Riversimple to constantly work on improving fuel availability and economy. “The bill comes to us,” says Riverside founder Hugo Spowers. “We have a financial driver to constantly improve the energy consumption of the vehicle.”
Riversimple won’t sell this car. It’s only available for a $350 per month lease. And, you’d better like working with Riversimple: The lease could be for 20 years, though you’d get a new model every two to four years.
A photo gallery of the Riversimple car is here.
Tags: fuel cells, GHG emissions, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, hydrogen, Riversimple
GreenandMore.com
Loading ...
August 7th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Hydrogen. Yes, it’s about time. Many have feared the explosive nature of hydrogen as a ticking H-bomb on the highway. It’s not nearly as dangerous as people may think.
You may remember, last year at the Bonneville Salt Flats, a hydrogen powered vehicle was shooting for a land-speed record. The participants and officials didn’t want that thing near them. So, they made the team park the car a mile away!
Realistically, the hydrogen, if it does escape the cell, rises at around 30 mph. I wouldn’t mind running my car on hydrogen. It burns clean and long.
We have a unit set up right now that will make hydrogen out of water which we extract from the air by way of a special dehumidifier. Then we take the water and run it through a complex system which renders the hydrogen from the water, which then we piped to the carbeurator on an 18 hp. lawn mower moter. From just 20oz. of pure water, we were able to run that motor for just over 3 hours.
The beauty of it, is how efficient the motor ran. Plenty of power and no exhaust to speak of. The only trouble we have is getting the motor started on the hydrogen. We still have to hand choke it with a capful of gasoline.
We’ll get it figured out.
Kudos Riversimple!