Re: was Car Craft Ramblings, then Alky fuel, now Hydrogen

[david crooks <david.crooks@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Getting a bit off AMC's, but still interesting...

>> Either way, you're consuming similar amounts for a
>> given horsepower rating.

> not necessarily true.  in theory, a fuel cell can be ~90%
> efficient in producing electricity from fuel.  an internal
> combustion engine is rarely better than 35%,

Both true, but ~90% under ideal conditions rather than
real world temperature swings...  Also don't forget to
include the efficiency of the electric motor, but I'll
still grant you that fuel cell/electric will be more
efficient than a gas engine.  (I did say similar, not
the same!).

>Fuel cells ... use a liquid, not pressurized hydrogen.
>I forget what the chemical makeup of the liquid is, but
>hydrogen is extraced as you go.

Interesting, I'll have to do some more reading...  The
only high power one's I've seen use hydrogen gas.  I've
seen some running on liquids, most often alcohol, but only
for low power applications, like the fuel cell lap top
computers.  I had thought that you need to go with the
pure gas to get good efficiency, but maybe they've over
come some of those problems.

Cheers,


Dave