Company Unveils Home-Based Hydrogen Refueling Station
One of the main barriers to the widespread adoption of fuel cell vehicles has been the lack of an adequate hydrogen-refueling infrastructure. Beyond a handful of hydrogen stations, such as the one near Los Angeles International Airport, there just isn’t anywhere to fill up.
This has resulted in a kind of chicken-and-egg situation, where car companies, such as fuel-cell pioneers Honda, are reluctant to mass-produce hydrogen-powered cars until a comprehensive refueling system is established, and infrastructure providers won’t move until there are enough cars to make stations economically viable.
Step forward ITM Power, a UK company that has developed a hydrogen refueling station that could be installed at home, providing a ready-made solution for fuel-cell car owners.
The station works via an electrolyser, which produces the gas from water and electricity, providing enough hydrogen overnight to fuel a 25 mile journey. If required, the unit, which has been tested on a converted Ford Focus, can also convert the gas back into electricity for use in the home.
According to Chief Executive Jim Heathcote, the unit, which is currently only a prototype, could be produced on a commercial scale by the end of the year, at an initial cost of £2,000 (around $4,000). He also anticipates that home-based systems could eventually be supplemented by more powerful stations in public places, capable of producing enough hydrogen for a 100 mile journey.
Speaking at a showcase launch event in Sheffield he said, “Given the pressing need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, especially oil, and to cut CO2 emissions, the future for hydrogen as an alternative means of storing and utilising energy cost-effectively has never been brighter.”
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Image Credit - ITM Power
Sorry, but this way of generating hydrogen is much worse than driving on gas. You get a most 20% of the electric energy back that was put into it. It gets even worse if you consider the losses on the whole path from the primary energy source (still mostly fossil fuels) to the energy put on the road to drive. Every rechargeable battery can give you better efficiency than that.
The 25 miles would depend on the weight of the hydrogen car and driving conditions like hills verses flat.
Royal, you do realize that one liter of hydrogen at STP (standard temperature and pressure) is really not that much at all. That would never get your car a mile, heck it won’t even get a bike a mile.
While it is disappointing to see how slow this process is, I hope we see some break throughs soon, or lithium batteries get cheap.
Too bad you’re getting negative gains, The electricity required to perform electrolysis is more than the amount of energy you’re getting from your vehicle.
Last time I checked batteries could power a car further and charge in less time. What is so great about hydrogen?? Its very energy inefficient (electrolysis and fuel cell) process. Lithium ion batteries and electric motors don’t waste that much energy during throughout the process of “refueling”.
Environment friendly and alternative to fossil fuels but 25 miles is not very good.
Steve. Using off peak electricity in the UK the estimated cost of the H2 GGE will be around the 80p Ltr mark. In other words considerably less than the pump price for gasoline.
For anyone who already has a Solar PV system man enough to do the job, the power could be directed through to the ITM Green Box. After taking into consideration the initial capital outlay the resulting fuel would be effectively almost free.
http://WWW.itm-power.com
This makes no sense. Use the household electricity to charge a battery in the car - after all, the charging process is simply moving hydrogen around in the battery - and then run the car on the battery. 25 mile range is easy with today’s batteries.
Besides, gaseous hydrogen is harder to handle than you might think.
Sorry, but generating hydrogen from electricity is the most idiotic thing you can do, until the main electric power source is a renewable source. Currently it’s much more reasonable to drive on gas. You get at most 20% of the energy back that was put into electrolysis in electric energy, which is a huge waste. And it gets even worse if you consider which proportion of the primary energy (mostly from fossil fuels) gets actually put on the street to move the car.
And even if you generate electricity from a renewable source, every rechargeable battery car has way better effciency than one with hydrogen as fuel and it doesn’t take a whole night to load for only 25 miles.
ok,folks. you CAN hook up a hydrogen fuel cell in your car that will produce enough gas to run you vehicle exlusively. as far as recharging your battery, thats what the alternator does after the engine turns over. i know this for a fact because im running my 1.5 liter honda civic on HHO, so naysayers step off.