So, tonight something moderately interesting happened. Ok, so it was very interesting and really cool.
One of our neighbors works for a local GM R&D facility. He specifically works on hydrogen fuel cells. Well tonight he comes driving home in one of the fuel cell vehicles, a modified Equinox I believe, and starts giving test rides to some of the neighbors. I had never met him before but right around 8pm Kat was out working in the flower beds and he comes pulling up in the driveway asking if we'd like to give it a drive...
Uhhh....YES
So first off he shows us what's underneath the hood. Really not much but a big plastic guard over the fuel stack was visible since it's still in development. After he gave us a little overview of his job and the vehicle I hopped in the driver's seat and Katherine hopped in the back (like any good wife should...kidding sweetie!) and we took off. I took it kinda easy cruising around the neighborhood (you know, kids and all), but then we hit one of the main roads and he said, "Go ahead, punch it". So I did. Very impressive. Turns out, and I don't know why I didn't know this, that the vehicle is powered by electric motors and the fuel stack just converts hydrogen to electricity. The electric motor impressed me a lot with its near-silent operation and instant torque. I would definitely love to have a vehicle one day with it, regardless of the fuel source. The whole SUV felt really good and solid too, especially for being a sort of prototype development vehicle. Kudos to GM for putting together the car and for letting us drive it. I'm really interested to see where this whole alternate fuel push ends up.
What does everyone else think? Will a certain technology win out? Will there be a fuel of choice in the future or will it be somewhat of a mix of fuels?
I wonder if our future will be electric motors with a choice of kits for fuel choice. Currently, it's easy to convert a gas engine to use propane (propane is now ~23% cheaper per mile).
ReplyDeleteIt seems likely that whatever source we go with, it will have to have a stable liquid based delivery system. (Something that jives with the current fuel infrastructure).
What is really cool is the bi-product of fuel cells is clean water. So instead of poisoning our environment with carbon-monoxide...once all the cars start switching to fuel cells we are going to have flooding problems! Kidding about the flooding btw.
ReplyDeleteEven the military is looking into using these and they have some vehicles already equipped with them. The idea there is they run stealth since fuel cell based cars are completely silent.
Tiothy,
ReplyDeleteYou really have to get a life. Ask Katherine about her fixation with a rock band.
JT