Re: [Phys-l] zero emission car

[Bill <wreitz@neo.rr.com>]

Anthony,

We ran into one of these 3 years ago (almost literally) at the National 
Hydrogen Convention in Columbia, SC.  My students were driving their 
fuel cell powered Power Wheels Jeep (RC controlled with on-board camera) 
around the exhibits and came near one of the two Clarity vehicles there. 
The "Suits" from Honda were quite nervous about our proximity to their 
prototypes.  The Clarity is a beautiful car & I'd love to have one. But 
as you note, it will take a lot of infrastructure to make it practical. 
There were a couple of Chevy SUV's and Mercedes fuel cell vehicles there 
as well. Lucky people got to drive the Chevy's & ride the fuel cell bus. 
I believe they  were all fueled with high pressure hydrogen in on-board 
tanks. My students were there as a result of their winning a fuel cell 
powered robot contest. Both our robot and the Clarity used PEM (proton 
exchange membrane) fuel cells that differed greatly in sophistication 
and efficiency. At that time I wondered if FC technology would develop 
sufficiently to actually see the Clarity get to mass field trials, 
which, by Anthony's note, seems to be happening. I thought FC's would go 
away when the Dept of Energy abandoned them.

( an aside: my high school had a fuel cell technology class for 4 years 
as a part of the PLTW engineering program I taught but it has been 
replaced by a required digital electronics course. My Engineering Design 
and Development class built the FC powered robot and FC Power Wheels as 
their senior project. They were in the first FC class and built their 
own fuel cells for the project)

Bill Reitz,
retired


On 7/12/2011 9:39 PM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
> Click "START THE TOUR" to watch the short video.
>
> http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/
>
> Neat! I believe it is only available in southern California. If it ever
> goes national, it will be interesting to see how the fueling stations will
> work (locations, cost, etc.).
>
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