Fuel Cells
« Previous EntriesPromising fuel cell advance uses nanotech and much less platinum
Monday, May 31st, 2010Scientists at Brown University and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed nanoparticles with a palladium core and an iron-platinum shell that can outperform commercially available platinum fuel cell catalysts. Most current fuel cells use platinum as the catalyst, which is what breaks the fuel down into electricity. But platinum not only is [...]
Lots of questions, and only some answers, about the Bloom Box
Sunday, February 28th, 2010 Bloom boxes at ebay
I’m sure you’ve seen all the articles about the Bloom Box, the new fuel cell technology that Bloom Energy revealed this week. To recap, the Bloom Box is a car sized stand alone fuel cell that turns natural gas or other fuels into electricity. Each box, which currently costs about $800,000.00, generates [...]
GM’s fuel cell powered Equinox reaches 1 million mile mark
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009The Equinox, GM’s hydrogen fuel cell car that is currently being tested in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC, has reached a milestone for fuel cell powered electric cars. There’s about 100 cars in the Equinox test program, which has been underway for slightly more than 2 years, and the program recently hit [...]
Mantra Energy wants to convert CO2 back into new fuel
Saturday, October 25th, 2008I received an interesting note from the Mantra Venture Group the other day. It had some really interesting things in it. One of their subsidiaries, Mantra Energy, has acquired the intellectual property for a process developed at the University of British Columbia called ERC (short for electro-reduction of carbon dioxide). What ERC does [...]
European Union pledges 1 billion euros for the Fuel Cells and Joint Technology Initiative
Saturday, October 18th, 2008The European Union has announced that it is adding a billion euros into a project designed to coordinate all European hydrogen fuel cell research. The goal is to achieve mass-market rollout of hydrogen cells by 2020. The Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) will focus on four main areas:
Transportation and hydrogen refueling infrastructure
hydrogen production and distribution
reduce the [...]
UPS expands testing of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Monday, September 29th, 2008The United Parcel Service (UPS) has announced that they are expanding their U.S. hydrogen fuel cell testing program to include three large package delivery vehicles. UPS’s initial tests conducted on fuel cell cars were very successful, so they are ready to move to the next phase.
The new fuel cell trucks, which are being built as [...]
Gore-tex based new cheaper fuel cell breakthrough eliminates need for platinum
Monday, August 4th, 2008Monash University researchers have come up with a new Goretex fuel cell design that could make hybrid cars much cheaper and more reliable. The researchers have developed an air electrode conisisting of an extremely thin layer (0.4 of a micron) of highly conductive plastic is deposited on Gore-tex, the popular outdoor and sporting goods clothing [...]
Fuel cells to power your home
Saturday, April 19th, 2008Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (better known here as Panasonic), plans on launching home fuel cell systems in Japan next year starting in April 2009. Matsushita hasn’t set the official price yet, but the company plans on keeping it below 1 million yen (about $10,000). Use of their fuel cell will cut [...]
Road Trip: Toyota fuel-cell hybrid vehicle completes long-distance jaunt
Sunday, September 30th, 2007From Edmunds.com – Toyota announced on Friday that “an improved version” of their FCHV fuel-cell hybrid car successfully completed a long distance test from Osaka to Tokyo on a single fueling of hydrogen.
Toyota’s new 5 passenger FCHV is 25% more efficient than the earlier version. It can store twice the amount of [...]
Platinum-free fuel cell developed in Japan
Sunday, September 16th, 2007Japan’s Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd has just announced that it has developed a new technology that will enable them to make fuel cells without platinum. Platinum is the precious metal used in the electrolyte process in current hydrogen-based fuel cells.
By using alkali, instead of acid, anion exchange membranes, the new fuel cell [...]