Toyota's new Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car will be able to power a house
...The automaker chose the big tech gathering to display the four-seater, which looks like a futuristic Prius, to highlight its advanced engineering.
A fully-fueled vehicle will be able to supply enough energy to power a house for a week in an emergency, Toyota said. Its engineers are working on an adapter that will connect the car into a home’s electrical grid.
After debuting the concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show in November, Toyota plans to start selling the car in the United States next year. While it has yet to disclose pricing, the company said it has slashed the cost of bringing the car to market by tapping an electric powertrain it already uses on one of its hybrid vehicles and other common parts.
“Fuel cell electric vehicles will be in our future sooner than many people believe, and in much greater numbers than anyone expected,” said Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota’s U.S. sales arm.
Toyota is one of three companies pushing forward with fuel cell vehicle cars. Hyundai will start offering one later this year and Honda plans one next year....
...Using hydrogen to create electricity, fuel cells combine the best of electric and gasoline cars without the downsides, the automakers say. They drive like electric cars -- quietly, with tons of off-the-line power -- but can be refueled just like gasoline-powered cars.
“We are real excited about this technology,” said Ed LaRocque, Toyota’s national brand manager for fuel cell vehicles. "We think it is game-changing."...Snip more:
http://www.latimes.com/business/auto...#ixzz2pjQ6pJWg
Is it dangerous to store hydrogen in a tank attached to a vehicle?
Fuel cell cars from Toyota, Honda, Hyundai set to debut at auto shows
...
"Hydrogen is quite a dangerous gas," said Tesla's Elon Musk, who also runs SpaceX, the rocket company formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp. "It's suitable for the upper stage of rockets, but not for cars."
Not true, says Matt McClory, one of the principal engineers of the Toyota fuel cell vehicle. And he has a bullet to prove it.
In safety tests, Toyota's engineers shot rifle bullets at its high-pressure hydrogen tanks to see if they would explode or catch fire.
"The smaller-caliber bullets would just bounce off the tank," McClory said. "It took a 50-caliber armor-piercing bullet to penetrate the tank, and it then just left a hole and the gas leaked out."
Hyundai has set its entire car ablaze without triggering an explosion. When the temperatures rise high enough, the hydrogen vents in a flair pattern through a pressure valve but burns off quickly...
more
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov...-cars-20131117 ******************
Hydrogen powered vehicle on the left.
Gasoline powered vehicle on the right
Photo 4 - Time: 1 min, 30 sec - Hydrogen flow almost finished.
From Fuel Leak Simulation
Dr. Michael R. Swain University of Miami
(PDF) https://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydroge...fs/30535be.pdf
Top Gear's James May: This is the future of Auto tech
http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/honda-clarity
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