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Central to GE's development efforts is creating the control systems required for switching seamlessly between different ways of storing and delivering power. This, as with the company's work with batteries, will draw on earlier work with hybrids.
Vlatkovic says the effort could be a huge boon to all kinds of hybrid vehicles. "The prime source of energy can be, in principle, anything," he says. Instead of a small fuel cell, GE could use a small advanced diesel engine running on renewable biofuels or equipped to get the most from new ultra-low sulfur diesel (see "How Diesel Technology Could Cut Oil Imports").
Such a diesel hybrid may prove to be about as efficient and clean as a fuel-cell-powered vehicle, says Van Amburg, when the costs of making hydrogen are considered. But, he adds, "there's still room for debate." GE's effort is part of a $49 million program funded by the Federal Transit Administration to help make fuel-cell transit buses practical. Hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered vehicles could reduce pollution in cities, since they emit only water, and they have an advantage over battery-only electric vehicles in that refueling times are typically faster. But other options might make more sense from an energy-efficiency or environmental perspective. While fuel cells only emit water vapor, the cheapest ways of making hydrogen fuel use fossil fuels, emitting greenhouse gases in the process. And the manufacture and transport of hydrogen consumes energy, too.
A U.S.-Chinese venture is out to prove the benefits of quick-charge buses.
Michael Idelchik, VP of Advanced Technologies, discusses energy research.
Guest (JJP)
Many buses already use Natural Gas and the infrastructure is more developed. Keep the two-battery scheme -- that sounds great -- but swap out the Hydrogen for Natural Gas.
You can burn the Natural Gas in a hybrid engine or use it in a Fuel Cell hybrid. Either way would be more efficient that the non-hybrid natural gas-powered buses that are in use today.
I would like to know why many people are against the exploration of hydrogen as a alternative fuel.
Don't you think petroleum was more expensive to harvest than wood was some 100+ years ago. Yet here it is today as our primary fuel of choice. Go figure.
As I have stated many times before, hydrogen should not be our only choice as an alternative, but it certainly should not be ruled out at this point in time. We would be foolish to blind ourselves to possible alternatives, hydrogen or otherwise.
Not only that, but the article states that other fuel sources are being investigated.
Quote:
"Vlatkovic says the effort could be a huge boon to all kinds of hybrid vehicles. "The prime source of energy can be, in principle, anything," he says. Instead of a small fuel cell, GE could use a small advanced diesel engine running on renewable biofuels or equipped to get the most from new ultra-low sulfur diesel"
Grid electric power as vehicle fuel
We already have better vehicle ‘fuels’ than hydrogen — including grid electrical power and alcohols like methanol and ethanol.
There is also the magnesium metal-air battery — a battery that is ‘refueled’ in a few minutes by filling with fresh electrolyte. The spent electrolyte is recharged at the filling station using electrical power — which is an interesting way of using the electric grid to make vehicle fuel.
The overall advantage of electric propulsion is that an electric drive train is cleaner and more efficient than other propulsion systems. The capture of electric power from regenerative braking can best be accomplished when part of the power storage capacity is ultracapacitors.
The question is, “What is the best way to implement electric drive in a vehicle — to achieve a 250 mile range, a short refuel time of less than five minutes; and reasonable acceleration and speed."
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) can do this — but are only incrementally more energy economical than a vehicle with a conventional combustion engine power train.
A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) has the great advantage of being able to use grid power for all short trips. All it needs is an extension cord — and the addition of advanced-technology deep cycle traction batteries.
The on-board power plant of an HEV or a PHEV can be either a combustion engine or a fuel cell. Examples of fuels that can be used include LPG, CNG, ethanol and methanol — all of which can be used by both combustion engines and fuel cells.
Methanol can be synthesized from non-petroleum sources; and ethanol can be synthesized from cellulosic materials like wood waste, fast growing willow and poplar.
Another power storage option is being commercialized in Scottsdale, Arizona by www.alchemy-energy.com
It’s a mechanically refuelable battery. Electrochemical fuel can be fed into the battery, allowing a high surface exposure of the electrochemical components.
Alchemy licensed the technology from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories in March 2006.
Alchemy refers to their battery as an electric power cell. It functions by pumping an electrolytic liquid — consisting of the common base-earth metal magnesium, in salt water — into the power cell. There it is catalyzed by air and exchanges electrons that generate electricity. The electricity is then used to power, for instance, the electric drive motor(s) of a vehicle. The spent fuel remains on board the vehicle.
At the refueling station, fresh fuel is pumped into the vehicle tank and the spent fuel automatically pumps back into the fuel station system. The station uses electric power to revitalize the spent fuel. This process makes the electric power cell a clean, environmentally friendly, re-usable electrical power storage technology.
Alchemy’s magnesium metal-air electric power storage is initially being built into buses. The technology is also intended to be used in cars — to provide power and range similar to vehicles with internal combustion engines.
Another application for Alchemy’s refuelable magnesium metal-air batteries is for stationary applications; including long term storage of electrical power for on demand or emergency use. Shelf life expectancy is tens of years, far exceeding any other energy storage system currently known.
US patent: publication application number 20050031938 for a rapidly rechargeable electric power system has some elements of the technology currently described by Alchemy Energy.
The future of transport is in alternatives to petroleum where the ‘fuel’ can be produced efficiently from a variety of energy sources. It’s about choosing energy carriers where the energy conversion — in and out of the carrier — is as efficient as possible.
Electrical power is a good energy carrier; as is methanol; and hopefully, so is Alchemy’s magnesium metal-air power cell.
Guest (jacklig)
Re: Grid electric power as vehicle fuel
i beleive magnesium air batteries have a very low power density, but very high energy density. this means such a solution would still need a secondary battery such as an ultra capacitor or lithium-ion.
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51 Comments
Why hydrogen?
Buses are parked overnight in a central yard - the precise argument they make for making a hydrogen filling station convenient enough. Why don't they just recharge the chemical batteries overnight - say for a few hours - for the next full day of operation? That way they could stay all-electric, no tailpipe emissions, simple refueling station infrastructures (plugs & powerlines). Plus they would be pushing/leading in the same technology direction that will be accessible much sooner to the public at large. We all have electrical plugs in our homes, but very few hydrogen stations nearby. Hydrogen is inefficient to make, compress, transport, store, and convert back to electricity - especially when compared to today's electrical grid and batteries. Seems like this whole hydrogen fixation is misguided.
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