Fill 'er Up with Hydrogen

Wondering what a Hydrogen Fueling Station looks like?  Take a good look at this 2015 Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell compact crossover shown at a hydrogen fueling station in Fountain Valley, CA.  Same old, same old, you say?  Well that is sort of the idea isn't it?  Hyundai is just one of three automakers debuting hydrogen vehicles this year.  Honda and Toyota are launching new hydrogen fuel cell cars as well.

Unfortunately these hydrogen fueling stations are only available in select locations including Southern California, but stay turned.  It likely will not be long before you see a "hydrogen pump" at your local service station too.

The First Hydrogen Car - Roger Billings

In a new Facebook page by Roger Billings, "Dr. Hydrogen" features his first of many cars that he converted to hydrogen.  This one was his dad's Model A which he converted while in High School for the local science fair.  According to our research so far, this was the first internal combustion engine car to be converted to run on hydrogen.

It looks like it has been restored to collector's condition.  Considering its history, that is quite a collector's item indeed.

H2Mobility Hydrogen Vehicles

 

I found an extensive collection of hydrogen vehicles from H2Mobility.  It includes seven vehicles converted by Roger Billings over the years.  One of those vehicles is this US Postal Jeep that was converted around 1977 and used successfully to deliver mail.  What a great use for clean hydrogen energy.

Hydrogen Car from Toyota in 2015

How would you like to pick up this hydrogen fuel cell car for between $50,000 and $100,000?  Reportedly, starting in 2015, you will be able to do just that.  Toyota announced this production vehicle that features a 300 mile range on a single full charge.

With other automakers also getting into the space in a more serious way, it seems the hydrogen economy is coming of age.  Many have pointed out the "Chicken or the Egg" problem with hydrogen cars and fueling stations, but one thing is for sure, more affordable hydrogen cars on the market will increase the odds that you will be seeing hydrogen as a fueling option at your local gas station.

It looks like Roger Billings' "Hydrogen World View" might be closer than we thought.

a 300 mile range on a single full charge: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/06/2015-toyota-hydrogen-fuel-cell-car-to-sport-300-mile-range/

Hydro Kevin

I've started reading a site called hydrogencarsnow.com (my kind of site).  It's put together by a guy with the pen name "Hydro Kevin" and its quite a collection of information.  He seems to reference his material pretty well and this is one of the more complete hydrogen energy sites I've seen.

One of the scientists covered, who I have long taken an interest in, is Dr. Roger Billings.  Check out this collection of articles from Hydro Kevin.

Henry Cavendish

Henry Cavendish (October 10, 1731 – February 24, 1810) was the discoverer of Hydrogen.  Around the year 1784, he published a paper on the production of water by burning "inflammable air" (hydrogen).

Who would have guessed then that 229 years later we would all be talking about this most basic of elements as the "fuel of the future"?

Hydrogen is a potentially emissions-free alternative fuel and it is one of the few that can be produced from diverse energy sources.  Recent developments and research are making this fuel a front runner in the urgent contest to replace fossil fuels.

In this blog I will share some of the developments from time to time and we'll all see where Henry's discovery takes us.