US: HyPower testing onboard hydrogen-producing systems in prototype vehicles
Thursday, December 14, 2006, AutomotiveWorld.com
HyPower Fuel says it has developed an H2 Reactor (H2R) hydrogen system which uses electrolysis to produce hydrogen onboard a vehicle, as per demand, to power the vehicle's internal combustion engine.
At present, the H2 Reactor requires 1Wh to produce one litre of hydrogen, which it says is two times more efficient than the current performance of competing technologies. However, the company has only conducted preliminary laboratory tests using prototype H2R systems. The tests also included an H2R system fitted in a Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf) GTI.
HyPower has begun testing its H2R system in a gasoline engine-powered Ford Fusion.
"This is an extremely significant advance in that a vehicle with a standard internal combustion engine can be powered with hydrogen produced onboard as needed. Other hydrogen vehicles require special storage tanks to supply the highly compressed gas to the engine. This is not yet a practical application as there are simply very few available refueling stations for these vehicles," said Doug Bender, President of HyPower.
HyPower plans to conduct a few demonstrations in early 2007, with the resultant data evaluated by independent experts.
Published on Thursday, December 14, 2006
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