Hydrogen-Powered Cars
08/16/99
Ford Motor Company researchers plan to road-test a
hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine later this
year that promises up to 30 percent better fuel efficiency.
Bill Bates, Ford's manager of alternative power sources,
said a hydrogen-powered engine could be a cleaner-burning
alternative to the gasoline engine until automakers perfect
a fuel-cell powertrain. Fuel cells produce electricity from
an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen;
the only emission is water.
The hydrogen engine would produce no hydrocarbons, carbon
monoxide or carbon dioxide. Nitrogen oxide emissions would
meet proposed federal clean-air standards. The engine is
expected to be affordable, too. The extra cost of the thick,
heavy hydrogen storage tank should be offset by eliminating
the catalytic converter and other exhaust treatment systems
used on a gasoline engine, Bates said.
The hydrogen engine is one of several alternative power
sources Ford is researching. It already has a fuel-cell-
powered car which uses hydrogen gas. Ford plans to begin
producing an updated version in small numbers by 2004.
Ford's engine can run on either compressed hydrogen gas or
liquid hydrogen, Bates said.
General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG are also
working on fuel-cell cars with the goal of reaching
limited-volume production by 2004.
Automakers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars
on fuel-cell research, but few experts expect them to
become commercially viable within the next decade.
