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Fuel Cell Vehicles

Fuel cell cars use fuel cells to produce green car fuel driving power for their vehicles. These fuel cells are generally hydrogen containing cells which produce energy by combustion of hydrogen. In these engines, hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce water and electricity. With the only by-product water, this seems to provide the ultimate solution to all the problems caused by fossil fuels and their shortage. Due to this very reason there is so much interest and research going on to get fuel cell powered vehicles on the road. U.S Government has reportedly invested more than a billion dollars towards R&D of fuel cell vehicles.

The working of a fuel cell engine goes as follows. It converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water and subsequently produces electricity. This battery has all the chemicals stored inside it and unlike a normal battery, this one does not die as long as you keep on supplying hydrogen and oxygen. There are several types of fuel cells:

- Polymer exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)

- Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)

- Alkaline fuel cell (AFC)

- Molten-carbonate fuel cell (MCFC)

- Phosphoric-acid fuel cell (PAFC)

- Direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC)

Out of all these PEMFC is touted to be the ideal type of fuel cell for driving our vehicles. It produces more power while operating at a low temperature. This implies that it does not require long for the engine to become "warm" and start producing electricity for running the car.

Apart from all the apparent environmental benefits of using fuel cells, there are lot of other issues that have to be addressed first:

- Fuel production: Production of hydrogen fuel isn't as simple as the production of fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel. Hydrogen can be produced in two forms, as either a high-pressure gas or as liquid hydrogen.

- Fuel transport: Transporting liquid hydrogen isn't child's play. Liquid H2 is highly pressurized and cooled to a very low temperature i.e around -253 degree celsius

- Cost: Right now, the production of fuel for a fuel cell has been the major reason that has been deterring manufacturers. The cost for producing the same amount of energy is nearly 3 times in a fuel cell system as compared to a gasoline powered vehicle.

- Widespread Infrastructure needed: In order for the country to run on fuel cell powered vehicles, there has to be a lot of investment in the form of stations similar to gas stations everywhere. Along with that is needed a fast and reliable transportation method to deliver fuel on time.

- Other considerations: Typically a gasoline powered vehicle can run upto 300 miles when tha tank is filled up. Right now, there are too many issues with a fuel cell regarding storage, safety etc that prevent this from happening. Standard vehicles are yet to see fuel cells which can be installed in them without encountering any of the problems mentioned above.

Many companies are at the forefront of fuel cell development these days. The prime amongst them is Honda, whose fuel cell model, the Honda FCX Clarity has already been developed. The second Honda FCX on the road today was "leased" out to U.S actor Jamie Lee Curtis on July 31, 2008. Honda plans to bring these vehicles for the mass public by around 2010. Fuel Cell appears to be a promising alternative to oil which for most governments around the world is a burden which they have to import year after year.