[LAD] OT: alternative fuel for cars [was: Re: Car engine sound emulation for future electic cars. ideas ?]

[Patrick Shirkey]

Pieter Palmers wrote:
> Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>> On Tue, 2008-08-05 at 23:23 +1200, Pete Black wrote:
>>> If you want a hydrogen car, you can visit tokyo and lease one from 
>>> Mazda whenever you like.
>>>
>>> http://gas2.org/2008/06/20/mazdas-new-premacy-hydrogen-hybrid-rotary-engine-car-takes-to-the-road/ 
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Interesting link. There is another company in Japan that is releasing a
>> purely hydrogen run car with no gasoline requirements. The fuel is
>> water, which is then converted to hydrogen gas via electrolysis and
>> burnt piped into the engine...
>
> You mention repeatedly mention that water is an efficient 
> transportation form of hydrogen. While you are right, it is rather 
> irrelevant. You don't want to transport water or hydrogen, you want to 
> transport people/goods/... . You need energy to do this transport. 
> Hence you have to carry along energy, whatever from it may have.
>
> The problem is that water is a very low-energetic form of hydrogen. In 
> order to convert it into the high-energetic H2 form you have to 
> provide at least the energy difference between the two forms. So what 
> I don't understand in this story is where that energy comes from? 
> Since electrolysis uses electricity, it probably means carrying along 
> batteries.
>
> Which leads me to the next surprise... why one would bother to carry 
> along a battery to provide power for the electrolysis to then use the 
> resulting gasses to drive an inferior combustion engine. If you carry 
> along electrical energy anyway, why not use it to drive an electrical 
> engine? They are far more efficient than a combustion engine.
>
> Some thoughts for the masses,

In most places water is fairly easy to come by as you only have to wait 
for the rain or go to a lake/ocean whereas electricity is slightly more 
complex to attain and usually requires payment for the privilege.

If you can burn water directly without having to extract the hydrogen 
first then you can utilize it in much the same way we currently use 
petrol. i'e once you start the car you will be providing enough energy 
to keep the engine running. It's a very efficient form of energy 
extraction compared to current standards.


-- 
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd.