Fantastic.... the major problem being tackled

The obstacles against a hydro-fuelled transportation industry are few but significant. For those who haven't been paying attention, they are:

-> The way hydrogen is made
-> The way it will be stored
-> The way it can be distributed

All three are seeing improvments but the first on the list, how this "magical" fuel is created, is a tough problem. QuantumSphere may have the answer:

"'Our water electrolysis research will ultimately enable us to leverage the Company's nanomaterials to produce cheap hydrogen using water and electricity. QuantumSphere's electrodes use QSI-Nano™ metals and alloys that are ten times less expensive when compared to platinum, offering an orders-of-magnitude increase in surface area (due to nano-scale size) to provide low cost, energy-efficient processes and materials to generate hydrogen,' Dr. Carpenter added.

"QuantumSphere's water electrolysis processes alleviate the dependence on platinum, deliver 80% cheaper electrodes with increased surface area and activity while reducing the electrical potential that resists the water splitting process."

For the layman... traditional electrolysis (sptlitting of water with electricity) requires a platinum catalyst (just something that starts the reaction). Platinum, as you all know, is pricy these days. QS has developed a new kind of metal to take it's place which is much cheaper. They also mention in the article that the electricity to power this reaction will come from renewable sources. SO NICE to hear a big industry player say that instead of following the nay-sayer sheep herd and bray about it being inefficient or impractical.

Ford's been busy!

Ol' Henry would be proud! Ford has a fleet of 30 true hydrogen fuel cell Focuses (Foci?) on the streets of a few different countries. They've logged over 180K miles total and the testing is going great. People like driving them and they're functioning well (not a surprise to me to be honest). The coolest part?

"After an intense engineering investigation, a team from Ford and Ballard determined the cause of the problem and fixed it with a software adjustment, which significantly improved the performance of the vehicle overall."

OnStar that FIXES your car on the run! "Sir, we see you're having some horsepower reduction. Give me one moment and... there, is that better?" AMAZING

http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage5358.html

Feel Like Getting Me a Gift??

Thank you for being so patient and please excuse the little delay. We are pleased to inform you that the H-racer and the Hydrogen station are available now to buy at: www.horizonfuelcell,com/buynow.php.

Since you first contacted us, the H-racer has been featured in over 55 articles in 15 countries (from Business Week to the Iran Daily!). Check out the attached pictures to be the first to see the actual product…we hope you like it.

As promised, the H-racer is available now for US$40 and so is the Hydrogen Station (including solar panel).

Have fun and enjoy the future (powered by Horizon!)



SO COOL! A little hydro-powered car! You can be sure I'll be picking this up ASAP (and probably blowing it up while trying to make it faster)

Get to Work

What a slacker... All my zero readers are clamoring for more!

Great information from Captains of the Industry:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1973409,00.asp

Lawrence Burns, General Motors' head of research and development, gave an upbeat picture for fuel cells. The goal, he said, was to cut the cost of hydrogen to $2-$3 per kg, about the same cost of running a car at $1-$1.50 per gallon of petrol.


"At the end of the day, we don't want to ask customers to pay more because that is not the pathway to high volume," he said.

That last statement says it all... high volume is crucial and the only way to do that is to make it cheap enough for everyone to chose it over the other options. Look at hybrids: the idea that you're paying a lot less for fuel day-to-day overshadows the entry fee for many people.

"Based on our better understanding of the technology now, we will have the start of commercialization in 2012 at the earliest. By around 2015 we will have an overall fleet of up to 100,000 vehicles world-wide and, in my view, from around 2020 at the earliest fuel cell cars will make up a single-digit percentage of new car registrations," Daimler's Mohrdieck said.


VW's Steiger was more wary, suggesting fuel cell cars would start to appear in real numbers by 2020, but then take 10 years to get a market share of 1 percent, 10 more years to reach a 10 percent share and 10 more to reach half the market for new cars.

50% market share by 2050???? Optimistic for sure but with people like me on the job, how can you lose?! :)