Are there any hydrogen powered cars ready for the market being manufactured by small companies?
450545
I doubt it. Even if the storage problems were overcome, there are next to no places with which one could fuel up a hydrogen car. Until the infrastructure is there, there is little reason for manufacturers to put out vehicles.
134371
Although some have talked about this, there are a lot of technical and practical questions to answer before this can happen. For example:\n\nWhat energy are you going to use to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen? \n\nHow are you going to store the hydrogen safely and dispense it? \n\nHow are you going to transport the hydrogeon?\n\nWill you keep the hydrogen liquid so it will not take up much room? \n\nHow will you keep the hydrogen liquid from warming up ? \n\nHow will you prevent terrible fires and explosions from accidents?\n\nWill you produce less pollution by using hydrogen, or more, given that you are having to use energy to create it? \n\nHow will you make the transition from petrochemical fuels to hydrogen fuels?\n\nWho is going to pay for this transition?\n\nHow are you going to build the very expensive infrastructure?\n\nProbably lots more questions too. Those are enough to start with, however.
909779
In Scotland, there is a big plan underway to set up a giant wind farm and generate hydrogen via electrolysis to sell commercially for use in hydrogen cars. \n\nhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-1743952,00.html\n\nI read somewhere else that there is a big controversy surrounding the building of these wind turbines, by another environmental group since they will interfere with the golden eagle population.\n\nhttp://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=270&id=1472282006\n\nIt’s kind of rare that you see two environmental groups going at it with one another, so this caught my attention.
751378
Hey Bob,\n\nApparently, Yes, it can be done.  it can be a lot easier than you might think as well.  If you hold a flow of hydrogen to the carburettor, the hydrogen will be drawn into the chambers and combust, powering the engine.  There are a couple of major problems with this though.  First, you need a source of hydrogen, which means driving around in an H bomb effectively.  If you were to use water, and make hydrogen that way, the vehicle would have to be very very big to produce enough hydrogen to allow the combustion to work, so even though it can be done in theory, it's not safe or is not feasible just yet.\nAs soon as someone works out how to get the hydrogen from water more efficiently, they will probably be the new Einstein (or shot by oil tyrants)
723332
Here's an idea.....drill in Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!\n\nOr here's another one.....ALTERNATIVE FUELS!!!  Ethanol and hydrogen should be our focus.  A failing company like GM could really benefit from getting a head start on those technologies.
556683
I would like to see it work.  I always knew someone could come up with a better engine design.
721538
Electrical cars have been practical and affordable for at least fifteen years in the US. But with lobbying from the rich oil companies, laws and car manufacturers have not had any incentive to work towards them. Ford and Chevy tried, and couldn't make the marketing work to get enough people to buy them. Only with gas prices rising in the US have hybrids even started being fashionable.\n\nSolar cars are not yet practical, in most parts of the US, because of the limited efficiency of solar panels and the fact that many parts of the country do not have that many sunny days per year. It doesn't suit the average commuter if they can't get to work because it is raining.\n\nHowever, if people really started using electric cars, solar powered recharging stations could be added in many parts of the country where feasible. This leaves other forms of electric power production as the source where solar is not as useful.
744587
Hydrogen powered autos is the way to go. The sun's energy can be used to separate Hydrogen from Oxygen, so you definitely have something environmentally friendly.
223194
I doubt you'll find it in your backyard.  Your best chances of getting hydrogen is electrolysis of water (pass a current through water and O2 will form at one end and H2 will form at the other--this is EXTREMELY dangerous, and should only be attempted with a battery so you don;t have live ends) or have zinc react with acid.  If you take a pennymade after about 1980, the entire interior is zinc, and it's very reactive--copper is just the coat.  If you scratch off the copper coat a bit to expose the zinc, and drop the penny in acid, it will react, creating bubbles of H2.  I don't know how you'd capture the bubbles, though.\n\nEdit: this is my 1,000th answer!  Hurrah!
230301
Hydrogen is less efficient that oil right now but if we developed a more clean way of making it (like photobiosynthesis) it would be much better for the environment, and the switch has to start somewhere.\n\nIt is my opinion that it would be better for the environment if we just ran out of fuel, because people tend to destroy the planet when they have lots of energy, regardless of how clean the energy is. It's the greed that is bad for the environment, not the fuel. Hydrocarbons could actually be made to be very environmentally friendly if car and energy companies actually cared about environmental health more than stuffing their pockets with cash.
301474
There are many alternative fuel vehicles.  Some are on the market today, others are simply concepts.  I'll give a quick rundown of the more popular ones:\n\n1. Flex-fuel vehicles - More than 20% of cars on the road today are flex-fuel capable, which means that they are capable of burning a fuel known as E85.  E85 is 85% ethanol (which is an alcohol made from corn) and denatured with 15% gasoline.\n\n2. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles.   There are fleet and government vehicles that will run on compressed natural gas.  The engine technology is similar to that of a gasoline engine, with the exception that it has been configured to use natural gas instead of gasoline.  Due to the lack of a refueling infrastructure, privately-owned natural gas vehicles are not very common.\n\n3. Liquefied Propane Gas (LPG).  This is also a fuel used by fleet vehicles, in particularly trucks.  One of the larger users of these vehicles is the Schwan's Foods company, with their big yellow refrigerated delivery trucks.  These trucks use LPG as their fuel.  \n\n4. Biodiesel.  This is a type of diesel fuel that is made from plant or animal fats and oils.  It can be used in most diesel engines with little or no modifications.  Blends such as B5 (5% biodiesel, 95% petro diesel) and B20 are available, as well as the full 100% biodiesel.  Watch for growth in this alternative fuel.\n\n5. Hydrogen.  This fuel can be used both in a standard internal combustion engine like those in cars now, or to generate electricity by feeding it to a fuel cell to generate the electricity, which then runs electric motors.  The problem right now is storing enough hydrogen onboard to make this a feasible concept, as well as developing a safe way to store it.   Most hydrogen-powered vehicles are only concept cars being tested by automakers.\n\n6. Electrical.  Electric cars have been in experimentation for many years.  The problem is storing a sufficient amount of electrical power on board to make them feasible.  If significant advances in battery technology were made, this is a possible concept.\n\nAll of these are still in some degree of experimentation.  However, E85 and biodiesel are real products are on the market for consumers to use today.  As oil prices escalate, these alternative fuels will develop more market appeal.
42604
No i dont think so, i think this technology is still very low developed, we need better ways to store the hydrogen, and worst than that we still need to convince people of the benefits of this source of energy.
1120832
Not sure if you can.  Fuel cells are run on hydrogen.  Using gasoline defeats the purpose
178499
Compressed hydrogen flows over a platinum plate which causes electricity. Then the vehical acts like an electric car. \n\nPlatinum's cost is over $1,000 an ounce and that's why hydrogen fueled portable generators cost over $5,000 with most being over $8,000 each.  Expect these vehicals to be expensive.  \n\nI wouldn't doubt that thieves will try to steal the platinum out of the vehicals.
410575
If you look at this from cars that are dependable then yes Toyota should be in it. Although not a US automaker Toyota pushes US makers to step-up their game and do better.
191652
Very efficient cars as far as I know. German engineering is quite superb.\n\n(PS I do get your question - and I love 'em! :-) )
140589
Typically, concept cars are not intended for sales to the general public.  They're intended to show off a particular new technology or as a representation of what could possibly end up on the showroom floor.  \nMore often than not, concept vehicles are one off creations and, if sold, would go for millions of dollars.