First commercial fuel cell car
One of the topics in the new Energy option for 2014 onwards is the thermodynamic efficiency of fuel cells. This is equal to ΔG/ΔH and the value is much higher than for conventional fossil fuels. It seems surprising that fuel cells have not been utilised successfully before now to power motor cars as the environmental advantages are huge. Using hydrogen and oxygen as the fuel and oxidant would decrease dependency on fossil fuels and reduce atmospheric pollution as the only products are water and electricity. Hyundai have announced that they are going to commercially produce a fuel cell car.
Called the Hyundai ix35 it will be in full production by 2015 and by 2016 more than ten thousand vehicles are planned to be on the road. The car should be able to reach a top speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km h-1) and go from 0 to 60 mph in 12.5 seconds. A full tank of hydrogen should last for 300 miles (480 km). As with all new developments the cars are likely to be expensive costing between £31K and £62K (US$50,000 - US$100,000) to buy new. The cars will charge much faster than battery operated cars but may suffer initially from the lack of hydrogen filling stations. As other manufacturers join in and fuel cell cars become more common the price is likely to reduce significantly. Will this be the future of road transport?