Car of the Future?

Imagine this scenario. You are driving down the countryside, top-down while your Ipod connected radio speakers is blasting away the newly-released single of the Black Eyed Peas. After a few miles, you notice that the gas light is blinking. No worries. You know that a filling station is coming up ahead. Upon reaching the station, you park perfectly along the marked lines, put on the brakes and push the green button found just beside the gas tank latch. There’s a soft buzzing sound that lasts for thirty seconds which ends with a beeping sound and the gas light turns green. You’re good to go. You’ve just had your tank filled without getting out of the car and without talking to anyone; all done with just a push of a button.

Welcome to the future of the hydrogen powered vehicles. The scenario described above isn’t far off. In the future, hydrogen cars and robot-operated hydrogen filling stations are projected to be found in every town in Europe . That is, if all goes well for the proponents of hydrogen as alternative fuel.

How does it work?

Hydrogen powered vehicles use Hydrogen as fuel rather than conventional diesel or gasoline. There are two ways in which this can be done. The first is through combustion method or by fuel cell technology with both methods producing only water vapor as a by-product. The combustion method works the same way as a conventional engine but instead of burning gas or diesel, this one burns Hydrogen. The drawback here is mileage. A normal hydrogen tank wouldn’t last long, thus, making it inefficient. Research on ways to store hydrogen more efficiently is being undertaken to further the combustion method.

The fuel cell or “battery” method mixes Hydrogen with Oxygen to produce electricity which will then power the car motor. This method is more efficient but slower compared to using combustion. Automakers are divided on the issue, but all are making inroads to research and development to find the best and most efficient way to harness the power of Hydrogen.

Why Go Hydrogen?

Hydrogen powered cars are considered to be the Holy Grail of the automotive industry. Using Hydrogen, the most abundant element around, to power cars with water as the only by-product sounds like the answer to everyone’s prayers. It’s odorless and pollutant-less, plus it’s everywhere. Touted as the green solution to rising petrol costs and hazardous emissions, huge amounts of money have been invested both by the government and private sectors of first world countries to realize a Hydrogen economy. One pound of hydrogen supplies three times as much energy as a pound of gasoline. And it's the most plentiful element in the universe! No wonder scientists are trying to figure out how to make hydrogen work as a practical fuel.

"Dozens of companies, including all the major automobile manufacturers, have designed engines that burn hydrogen - they're a lot like the internal combustion engines we have in cars today," says Al Sacco, director of the NASA-supported Centre for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing (CAMMP) at Northeastern University in Boston .

This scenario isn’t without a downside. Over the years, studies have shown that Hydrogen isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The element may be abundant but harnessing it on a mass scale will take a great deal of time devoted to research and testing. Cost is another issue. The amount of money that governments and automakers have to invest in will be immense and should ultimately be passed on to the consumer. Another point to consider is fueling infrastructure. Hydrogen powered cars need Hydrogen fueling stations, a huge undertaking in itself.

President Bush is a staunch supporter of the Hydrogen economy, investing nearly $1.2 billion in research and development to produce a viable system within the next twenty years. The budget will go into the research and development of a system to harness Hydrogen from renewable sources such as solar, wind power and fossil fuels. Using fossil fuels however will have adverse effects as the processes used to harness it are harmful to the environment.

For automakers, the race is on to build the safest, most-efficient, and cost-friendly hydro-powered car for the consumer market. Governments of first-world countries have been working hand in hand with energy companies and automakers to gain ground in this endeavor. They see the future in Hydrogen power not just for the sake of the environment but in homeland security and international politics as well. Once Hydrogen becomes an accepted and viable source of alternative fuel, dependence on the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) will decrease and bargaining field on world trade and homeland security will take on a new level.

Hydrogen cars may be the cars of the future but how soon into the future is still uncertain. There has been tremendous progress in research and development but there is also still a long way to go.