hydrogen

Lithium or hydrogen bike? Choose your steed

More and more electric bicycles are being developed in Japan to give riders a little help when commuting or going grocery shopping. They're a common sight on the hilly streets of Tokyo, where "mamachari" bikes with baskets and kid seats over the wheels are the norm.

Sanyo recently unveiled a new series of two-wheel drive eneloop electric hybrid bicycles whose lithium ion batteries can recharge while the bike is being pedaled on level terrain. Previous models relied on braking or downhill energy to re-power.

The Eco Charge Mode featured on the SPL series gives you more recharging opportunities while the bike is in use. It reads foot pressure on the pedals, as well as pedal torque and the revolution speed of the dynamotor on the front wheel, and charges the battery along flat roads, on downhills, and during braking. When the rider comes to an uphill gradient, the motor assist function kicks in automatically.

The Eco Charge Mode increases driving distance per charge by 53 percent compared with just biking in a high power-assist mode; Sanyo says the new SPL bikes can travel about 34 miles per charge.

By traveling 1 kilometer (1,093 yards) on flat ground in Eco Charge Mode, you can generate enough electricity to go about 300 meters (328 yards) in Power Mode, which provides lots of power assist. A power reserve function stores an extra bit of juice for those times when the battery runs out before you arrive at your destination.

To be released in Japan in April, the 26-inch CY-SPL226 and the 24-inch CY-SPL224 will have a price tag of about $1,700.

Meanwhile, industrial products maker Iwatani recently showed off a hydrogen-powered electric bicycle at FC Tokyo, a gathering of companies in the fuel cell business. … Read more

Fuel cell vehicles to number 2.8 million by 2020

Sales of vehicles powered by fuel cells running on hydrogen will surge over the next 10 years, according to a report released Tuesday by Pike Research.

By 2014 fuel cell vehicles will be a commercial reality, and by 2020 over 2.8 million fuel cell-powered cars and trucks will have been sold, according to Pike's report, "Fuel Cell Vehicles: Light Vehicles, Medium/Heavy-Duty Trucks, Transit Buses, and Hydrogen Refueling Infrastructure."

About 37 percent of those vehicles will be sold in Western Europe, 36 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, and 25 percent in North America, according to Pike … Read more

Honda's fuel cell vehicle gets free energy

Honda developed and put into operation a new solar hydrogen station at its Los Angeles research center to refill the Honda FCX fuel cell vehicle.

The new station delivers a trickle of hydrogen, designed to put half a kilogram into the FCX's tank over an eight hour period, enough, according to Honda, for most drivers' daily commutes. The FCX has a hydrogen capacity of about 4 kilograms and a range of 240 miles, so a half kilogram will run it for 30 miles.

Honda developed prototypes of this station previously, but most were inefficient because of the need for … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1106: A tall drink of moon water

Turns out when we blew up the moon a few weeks ago, we found water! Yay! The bottled water companies are presumably planning their trips now. THIS is how we motivate us to get back to the moon! We also hear more from old man Murdoch on blocking Google from indexing his newspapers, and Dell launches a smartphone. Does anybody want it?

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1106

Rupert Murdoch to remove News Corp’s content from Google ‘in months’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/6559694/Rupert-Murdoch-to-remove-News-Corps-content-from-Google-in-months.html… Read more

Shell opens hydrogen station at JFK airport

Shell this week opened its second hydrogen filling station in the greater New York City area, providing improved access to hydrogen for drivers of fuel cell Chevrolet Equinoxes participating in Project Driveway.

Project Driveway selects consumers who sign up on the Internet in the greater New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. areas to participate for two months at a time in the demonstration. Shell will open a third station this summer in the Bronx in conjunction with the New York City Department of Sanitation.

Shell's hydrogen station in White Plains has been operating there for more … Read more

Scientists attempting to harness 'pee power'

Scientists from Ohio University have come across a way to harvest large amounts of cheap hydrogen from a rather unlikely source: urine. Apparently, plucking hydrogen atoms from urine is much easier than getting it from water.

Gerardine Botte, one of the Ohio University professors actively developing this "pee power" technology, attributes this difference to urea, a cleaner of diesel emissions and major component of urine. A molecule of urea is composed of four hydrogen atoms and two nitrogen atoms. Applying an electric current using a special nickel electrode causes those hydrogen atoms to pop right off. The trick … Read more

119: Hydrogen is back. Can it catch up with Hybrids and EVs?

Obama talks GM, but leaves out the "B" word. Hydrogen is back this week; will it stay? And the new version of Microsoft SYNC is out; we'll tell you what it does and if your Ford can get it. Plus, a ride in a hotted-up Lexus.

Listen now: Download today's podcast SHOW NOTES

• CNET Video: Cooley drives the Lexus IS350

• Hydrogen Road Tour 2009

• Check here to upgrade SYNC in your FoMoCo vehicle

• Antuan gets a first look at the Lexus IS C ragtop

• HCCI engines explained

Fuel cell cars hit the road

Electric cars have been getting plenty of buzz lately, but the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is still going strong. The California Fuel Cell Partnership, along with Powertech Labs, National Hydrogen Association, and U.S. Fuel Cell Council, will seek to regain the spotlight with a road trip to demonstrate the practicality of these vehicles.

Twelve fuel cell cars from seven automakers will drive from Chula Vista, in Southern California, up to Vancouver, Canada, a trip of 1,700 miles. Vancouver was chosen for the destination because it will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, where a … Read more

Driving the future: VW fuel cell Passat

If you watched the Olympics in Beijing, you may have noticed Volkswagen Passats being used as pace cars for some of the running and cycling competitions. More than just product placement, these Passats demonstrated a hydrogen fuel cell power train built by Volkswagen at its China research laboratory. The car is called the Volkswagen Passat Ling Yu hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, and we got a chance to drive it here in California.

Volkswagen brought a number of these cars to the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CFCP), a unique organization that works with major automakers such as Honda, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and Volkswagen on fuel cell research. CFCP also promotes research into hydrogen generation and filling stations.

So, on a hot Sacramento day, we took the wheel of a car that just might be the future of automotive transportation. As the car is built on the Passat platform, it doesn't exactly look like the car of the future. The controls and ergonomics are all very familiar. But a kilowatt gauge takes the place of a tachometer on the instrument cluster.

Although driven by an electric motor, which doesn't make much sound in itself, the car produced a steady whining sound. Not unpleasant, but certainly noticeable, it came from the compressor used to push hydrogen into the fuel cell. The power-train packaging is similar to that of a gas-engine car, with the fuel cell stack, compressor, and control software under the hood, and hydrogen tanks at the rear axle. The car also has a lithium ion battery in the middle of the chassis, which provides electricity storage for the regenerative brakes and supplements the flow to the motor. … Read more

Obama kills Bush fuel cell plan

WASHINGTON--President George W. Bush's $1.2 billion plan to develop cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells was eliminated by President Barack Obama last week, saving $100 million a year.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the government prefers to target more immediate energy-saving solutions.

"The probability of deploying hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the next 10 to 20 years is low," Energy Department spokesman Tom Welch said in an interview.

(Source: Automotive News)