September 16, 2008

The automotive industry is at an historic point of development. In the same way that the early 80s saw the advent of the video, coming in three formats; VHS, Betamax and V2000 (remember that?), early adopters were torn which way to go.  Which would ultimately be the popular choice among the public, or could they all survive? The early video rental shops stocked, as a rule of thumb, slightly more VHS than Betamax, with a pretty paltry selection of V2000 videos on offer.  As history has shown, over time VHS won the battle, and by the late 80s Betamax videos were consigned to the spare room and V2000 videos had long been binned.

We’ve just seen a similar battle between Toshiba and Sony with the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats for new high definition video technology.  Sony won this battle when Toshiba withdrew HD DVD following Warner bros decision to release their movies on Blu-ray only.  With worries about peak oil and global warming increasingly making the news, the search is on for more efficient ways to run cars.  The question is, out of the available options, how can this best be achieved and is there room for more than one solution?

The one thing that does seem likely is that it will involve hydrogen in some form or other.  Hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table and together with oxygen forms water.  It can be released from water through a process of electrolysis, it is highly combustible and when burnt the only by-product produced is water.

The problem with hydrogen is that releasing it from water is a relatively costly process, in terms of the amount of electricity used to break the water down into its constituent parts.  It is even more inconvenient and costly to store, both in a compressed and liquid state.  Liquid hydrogen must be kept at a temperature close to absolute zero, so is not suitable for home use.  However there are a number of companies that are working on hydrogen re-fuelling stations and their availability for installation at people’s homes. 

Honda have designed two re-fuelling stations that can be incorporated into the home on different levels.  The first, and easiest version, is a solar station that uses the suns light to power a highly efficient water-electrolysing module.  In very simple terms this splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, giving compressed hydrogen for use in fuel cells.  The other alternative is their home energy station which fuels not just the car but the house too and generates it’s hydrogen from natural gas.  This is claimed to be cheaper and more efficient than regular houses, but obviously requires a considerable amount more commitment and investment as a start up cost.

With hydrogen now no longer asuch pipe dream it’s use as a fuel is nearer than ever.  Honda’s website explains how their fuel cell works (again in the most basic of terms).  “Compressed hydrogen is stored in tanks in the car, and this is squeezed into a box (or ‘fuel cell’) that already has oxygen in it. The resulting chemical reaction generates electricity, which is used to power an electric motor – delivering drive to the wheels."   It goes on to explain that, “The chemical reaction that produces the electricity also produces water – and this is the only emission from a fuel cell car. The water comes out of the exhaust and is clean enough to drink”.  So in short we seem to have the perfect solution.  There are issues with availability of Hydrogen (the only commercial fuelling stations currently in operation are in California), to fuel the cars but with designs for home fuelling stations now more widely available their use is considerably more viable.

Toyota is also making great headway with the development of their fuel cell technology and, with the Prius, arguably has the lions share of the hybrid market.  The problem with this model is that many people are not really interested in driving an electric car.  The sound of an electric car makes people think of a milk float, and while these are on the surface good for the environment, they don’t offer the glamour or performance that drivers want from their cars. 

The Prius boasts fuel consumption figures of 65 mpg with emissions numbers of 104g/km, which are impressive enough, but when you consider that the new Golf Bluemotion, due for release in the middle of next year, has figures of 74.3 mpg and 99g/km of CO2 merely from a common rail diesel unit, the hybrid looks less impressive.  Neither of these cars offer much in the way of performance either, with the Prius taking 10.6 seconds to reach 60 mph and the Golf taking 11.3 seconds.  Their top speeds are adequate with 106 and 117 mph respectively, but being frugal doesn’t mean that you have to drive like a pensioner.  The BMW 320d can reach 60 mph in 8 seconds en route to its 140mph top speed, while returning 49 mpg.  Its emissions are reasonable at 153g/km too.

One problem with hybrid cars is that their additional power units, namely the battery and electric motors, are extremely heavy (the battery pack alone in the Prius weighs 53kg).  In addition to this they are both take up space, so they can make the car less useful on a practical level, occupying both boot and some passenger space.   The battery pack and motor are both additional items added to the car and are added at the expense of space and weight.  Long journeys are not the domain of the hybrid car either as it’s here that they exhibit their least fuel efficient running.  Their regular combustion engines are not especially efficient at speed and as most engines perform at their best on the motorway the hybrids can actually offer less economy on longer journeys.  They achieve their excellent combined fuel economy from the battery operation at low speeds when using no petrol.

Another alternative, which is currently available, but not really being investigated by car manufacturers is that of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).  LPG is widely available across the UK and vehicles are easily converted to run on both petrol and LPG.  It works by adding an additional tank to the boot of the car which is filled with LPG.  LPG vehicles are converted to run as ‘dual fuel’ vehicles and can be changed between fuels at the flick of a switch.  LPG, being a much cleaner fuel than petrol, has much lower emissions figures.  It is less than half the price of regular fuel, is congestion charge free and LPG vehicles pay less in road tax. 

As LPG is a  by-product of the petroleum-refining industry it means that the refining of crude oil is, in essence, more efficient.  As we’re able to make use of more and more by-products of refining we’ll make the crude oil stretch further and further with less waste.  There will need to be an increase of the number of stations supplying LPG but as with any other product if there is a demand supply will be made to fill that demand.  At the moment cars can be converted to run on LPG but if a manufacturer took it seriously and actually worked on a model that was dual fuel as standard then the rest of the industry would take notice.

The beauty of Hydrogen is it’s so efficient in combustion that it makes an ideal fuel to burn, and when it does burn it only emits water.   British company ITM Power have developed a system to use hydrogen as a combustible in a normal car engine.  They have built a prototype using a Ford Focus which incorporates an extra hydrogen tank in the boot of the car.  The Hydrogen can be generated overnight using a home fuelling station and the tank holds enough hydrogen for a 25 mile journey, after that the car reverts back to running on petrol.  This model can only run on petrol engines as diesel units don’t have spark plugs.  The changes to the engine are minimal and as the hydrogen is used in the same way as petrol the car feels the same.  This option will require much less development and may offer motorists free motoring for their daily commute.  The adapted Focus was fitted with an ‘off the peg’ hydrogen tank rather than a purpose built, space saving tank that could hold more fuel and therefore offer more hydrogen only miles.

Another UK company that are working to reduce emissions are Trident.  They have recently unveiled their latest sports car the Iceni, a grand tourer that offers supercar power with the thirst of a supermini, or even better.  The Iceni runs with a six litre diesel engine, operating with a torque multiplication system.  The end result is a car that runs on extremely low revs and consequently uses little fuel.  The car is in testing at the moment but Trident have had 68.9 mpg from it at 70 mpg and an incredible 108 mpg at 30 mph.  To put this achievement in context the Iceni will get from 0 – 60 in less than four seconds and top out over 200 mph, so it’s really up there in supercar territory.

Where the industry goes from here is impossible to tell and will certainly be led by the market.  Electric cars are getting faster and more impressive on the road, and as a result are becoming more appealing to drivers who like higher levels of performance, but this does still require a shift in driving culture.  EDF and Toyota announced last week that they are putting power points in London in order to test run Toyota’s new plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV), but while this may not emit much from it’s exhaust pipe there are the emissions from the generation of the electricity used to power the car to take into account.  Car emissions do not end at the exhaust pipe and have to be taken into account throughout the whole fuelling and car making process.

Using hydrogen and LPG as alternative combustible fuels seems to make the most sense as they can be applied to almost any petrol engined car with little fuss.  Cars will be able to be converted with fewer changes made to them and will feel the same under normal driving conditions, making them both cheap and appealing to the masses.  The main stumbling block with both options is that they haven’t got comprehensive supply networks in place. 

Trident’s example of getting more performance from diesel is something that may well make our fuel go further and is certain to prove useful in larger scale transport issues, the areas of public transport (bus and coach), and freight will be able to utilise it to make great savings.  That said a car that can achieve more than 100 mpg in town and still leave a Porsche at the lights has a wide range of appeals. 

With the advances being made in fuel cell technology and it’s capabilities, it becomes more viable every day, but I’m just not sure that drivers want an electric car.  They’re too used to the feel of an internal combustion engine and as they can have one and be as green as their fuel cell neighbour I’m not sure that they’ll turn down Electric Avenue.  Although with the amount of investment that the Japanese have made in making fuel cells work you’d be a fool to bet against them…

Leave a comment

Type into the box below