Hydrogen Gas In Cars – A Viable Alternative To Gasoline
Your vehicle is probably running on ethanol-enhanced gasoline as this is currently the cheapest fuel you will find at the gas station. Ethanol has been touted as the answer to reducing Americas dependence on foreign oil supplies as well as reduction in greenhouse gas emission levels. People are beginning to question this proposition as producing swathes of crops is possibly as inefficient as the fuel it produces. Ethanol is a fuel that cars have been using to run without optimization for a long time, so obviously its not the right choice. A new contender for better fuel economy is using hydrogen gas in cars.
The use of hydrogen gas in cars however has seemingly countless benefits over both ethanol and gasoline fuels. It is a much cleaner burning fuel that leave no carbon footprint as its only emission is water vapor which is comprised of mostly nitrogen which make up over seventy five percent of the air we breathe. It also offers roughly two-thirds better fuel economy at about half the price.
The lack of available hydrogen fueling stations and the complications of on-board fuel generation are the two biggest problems facing advocates of this new solution to our fuel needs. Hydrogen-powered vehicles will never be commercially available until it is easy to buy hydrogen fuel at a location convenient to you.
The process of generating large amounts of hydrogen on board the vehicle for burning in place of gasoline is still facing some technological limitations limiting use of the technology on the open road. Some auto manufacturers that plan to offer fully hydrogen-powered vehicles are also working on producing home hydrogen gas fueling stations. The home hydrogen fueling station has the potential to not only fuel your car but also power your home as well, offering tremendous saving both financially and environmentally.
There are several viable options for converting your gasoline-powered vehicle into a hydrogen hybrid that will allow you to take advantage of both the increases in fuel economy and a large reduction in your vehicles emission. Commercially available kits produce small amounts of hydrogen using the electricity generated by your car and add it to the gasoline air/fuel mixture the car is already running on. Prices range in cost from roughly two hundred dollars for kits composed of easy to find parts, to kits requiring specialty equipment that costs several thousand dollars.
Large-scale commercial production of hydrogen fuel shows signs of expanding, and it will likely become more widely available. This will allow us to begin seeing innovative new methods of using hydrogen gas to fuel vehicles. some prototypes exist in the major car manufacturers research facilities, but they are purely research cases. No commercial prospects yet exist. Until that day, backyard mechanics and car enthusiasts can experiment with putting together their own version of a hydrogen gas hybrid using a few easy-to-find parts and water. You can find instructions for this so-called “water4gas” kit at various websites.
It’s not only do-it-yourselfers and automobile manufacturers paying attention to hydrogen gas in cars, energy companies and even governments are now exploring hydrogen fuel technology. With more interest along with financial resources to back up continuing research, the day may soon come that hydrogen gas will be the fuel of choice powering your car.