Hydrogen Air Combustion Engines or HICE Engines Discussion Thread

[Crispy]

EDIT: Okay, I just did a quick search on Hydrogen Combustion Engine. I found a Wikipedia article where it shows the advantages and disadvantages of these types of engines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_internal_combustion_engine_vehicle

What it says is that they have a way better emission. Here's the compound for those who understand it.

H2 + O2 + N2 → H2O + N2 + NOx

For the petrol heads like me, you will love this next information. The power output of Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines (HICE) is 20% more than gasoline powered engines. And 42% more with a carburetor. Its also a process you can conduct with your Petrol engine at home, provided you have the correct tools.

You may be thinking that HICE Engines are the next best thing in the world. Be prepared for some heart shattering news, its not. See, this polar ice cap saving super powerful fuel is hard to find. In fact, there is a total of one hydrogen fueling station in Germany so far, and its stationed in Berlin.

Another drawback is that an engine has to undergo modifications. This means the engine costs an approximate 1.5 times more than a Gasoline Engine. This means that the BMW Z3, where the base price is about 28,000 USD, is about 30,000 USD. Not that bad, but it is a dent in your budget. And it does amount to a lot when your engine costs 9,000 or 10,000 USD.

So, how about we get onto the discussion part of this thread. So, lets discuss Hydrogen Air Combustion Engine.

 

[Cale]

They already exist. Honda FCX, Chevrolet has had a few Equinoxes for years, and various other non mainstream vehicles such as buses, commercial trucks/fleets etc.

IIRC Mazda has also developed a Hydrogen powered rotary engine.

 

[Thatman]

You mean like this?
http://www.greencar.com/articles/mazda-rx-8-re-dual-fuel-hydrogen-rotary-sports-car.php

 

[Ibonibo]

Bmw also had a 7 series

But look a bit for sweden. They have gotten far with it and the Hydrogen is manufactored as a byproduct in the dams for electrical power.

I think it will be the futur. When Oil companies see their profit slim down because of battery driven cars, they will invest enough in hydrogen to make it mass approved.
Batteries cars are just a gateway technology.

If every gasoline car would be replaced with a battery one, we would have problem with the elecrtical production, not enough rare raw material for the cars (china gonna keep them for themselves or sell it at crazy prices)

 

[AudiPro]

I really dont like hydrogen cars. Ive seen a hydrogen explosion before and honestly I dont want my car to be a bomb on wheels

 

[Luminis]

I really dont like hydrogen cars. Ive seen a hydrogen explosion before and honestly I dont want my car to be a bomb on wheels

Safety Third.

Yeaaaaah...

Anyways, I think the biggeest problem with hydrogen powered cars is the storinng of the hydrogen, mostly at gas stations... But, as has been mentioned above, if companies start to devout some serious resorces into developing hydrogen fueled engines, it might very well work.

To me, that seems a lot more realistic then all-electric cars. Unless someone comes up with a solution to travel a few hundred miles with the car and recharge the batteries in five minutes at a 'charge station', or something.

Plus: Combustion engines ftw.

 

[homeforsummer]

One thing to point out - the OP started this thread on hydrogen internal combustion. Many of the hydrogen cars mentioned so far have been fuel cell vehicles that use hydrogen to generate electricity.

Same fuel, different method of generating energy.

The second thing is that hydrogen is a great idea, but with a massive, massive flaw. That flaw is that despite hydrogen being abundant, it's hugely energy-intensive to get hold of. You can either extract it through the same cracking process from which you get hydrocarbons (in which case we'd still need to drill for oil, so hydrogen isn't really an environmental improvement), or you can extract it from water using electrolysis, and to do that you use more electricity getting hydrogen out of water than the hydrogen you extract can generate, so it's hugely inefficient.

So again, hydrogen is a fantastic idea with some major flaws.

I really dont like hydrogen cars. Ive seen a hydrogen explosion before and honestly I dont want my car to be a bomb on wheels

You're right. Gasoline is much safer and totally non-combustible

 

[ExigeEvan]

The problem with a Hydrogen system is it's fundamentally inefficient. Be it fuel cells or IC. Hydrogen has to be created (fuel or electricity demand), stored (high pressure, low temp), transported (high pressure, low temp) and used (HICE had efficiency similar to conventional ICE).

Unless battery technology hits a plateaux in the next decade, which I don't for see, then Hydrogen won't have any benefits over a pure electricity driven vehicle.

If Hydrogen was more abundant it would have been a great transitional technology, but battery technology has allowed us to bypass it completely.

 

[DKLion3s]

There's another way to harness hydrogen for HICE. By adding an On-board electrolysis system (converter).

Check this Link and others if you have some time.

It's much safer and more efficient than most technologies being persude. There are some kinks to resolve evidently, but has good propects.

DK.

 

[Philly]

There is the other problem going against HICE that the hydrogen fuel cell is also more efficient than a combustion engine. That BMW 7-series concept thing that they had running around was pretty cool, where they modified the engine to run on either hydrogen or gasoline, but that's the only practical application I see of getting energy from hydrogen combustion. It is a lot better for the (very) sparse hydrogen infrastructure we have now, so you don't get stranded. But if hydrogen were to be more mainstream, I think a fuel cell would be the power source of choice.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

They already exist. Honda FCX, Chevrolet has had a few Equinoxes for years, and various other non mainstream vehicles such as buses, commercial trucks/fleets etc.

IIRC Mazda has also developed a Hydrogen powered rotary engine.

IIRC, the FCX isn't a HICE engine, but rather a hydrogen-electric fuel cell powered car.

Also, I believe hydrogen powered ICE's actually produce less power. Something to do with the energy-density of hydrogen being much less than gasoline.