[james]

Avoiding the political issues in that other thread, there's still a technical one:

"If Schwartzenegger becomes govenor, someone has offered to convert one of his five Hummers to run on hydrogen. This guy has done it before and AH-nold sounds serious about it. This is hydrogen internal combustion like what BMW is working on. It's estimated the Hummer's mpg will double from 11 to 22."

That, I do not believe. OK, you've got some problems defining exactly what constitutes a "gallon" of hydrogen. Of course, seeing as how it's a gas at ambient temperatures, you can (theoretically!) compress it without limit, if you have a container strong enough to hold the pressure, so a gallon could contain almost any amount of hydrogen. Unfortunately, we don't have the technology to reasonably do more that about what a Scuba tank holds - maybe 3000 PSI.

If you go by a sensible measure of equivalent energy content - how many BTUs you get out of a given mass - I bet you'll find that Arnie's Hydrogen Hummer will use almost exactly the same amount of energy going from A to B as a normal one. Probably a bit less, 'cause of the extra weight of the hydrogen tanks.

 

[Delta Flyer]

The breakthrough I'd love to see on hydrogen-powered vehichles is a practical way to avoid evaporation.

I just want to apologize on the other thread if anyone was offended. I was being more of a comedian than a commentator on the last couple of posts there.

 

[dazey]

He has 5!? Even if I had as much money as him I don't think I would waste it on 5 of the same vehicle. And if that doesn't make it look like he's trying to compensate for something I don't know what would.

A conversion I would like to see or at least find out if it were possible/realistic is to convert an Insight to hydrogen or natural gas but still keep it an electric hybrid. That way I could finally drive in the California carpool lanes by myself.

 

[b1shmu63]

Sure you could convert an insight to natural gas :wink: ........ I had two Hondas converted to NGV about 15 years ago. At that time in Quebec (Canada) the government was supplementing conversions and the net cost was about 200 dollars. The system used a simple venturi supply system. I could switch at will from NG to Gasoline while driving. My Prelude went about 90 miles on a fill up before I had to switch back to gasoline. 8)

Unfortunately the 3200 PSI mother of all scuba tanks, weighed about 115 pounds, and with the rest of the equipment added about 170 pounds to the weight of the vehicle. Saves on coffee though. An ‘O' ring seal letting go first thing in the morning really gets the adrenaline going. :shock:

 

[Delta Flyer]

An Insight CVT powered by natural gas would probably be as the cleanest vehicle short of a pure electric without the drawbacks of range and performance.

 

[b1shmu63]

If Honda designed it using carbon fiber tanks like they use for hydrogen, and if they designed the NGV fuel supply system specifically for the Insight it would be outrageously clean, and would probably travel 300 miles on a fill up. I'm guessing that it would create way less greenhouse gas than a horse :roll Horses run 24/7.)

 

[Delta Flyer]

I heard a story that Honda was considering a residential hook-up so you could fuel NGVs at home.

 

[b1shmu63]

No problem. Those systems existed when I had my NGVs. You had to be in an area serviced by natural gas. The equipment was imported from Italy where NG vehicles are relatively popular.

Insight owners dare to dream, to change, to walk the walk. We apreciate innovation and design excellence. Many others don't think like that yet. We, the visible Insightful minority, are helping to change that

Perhaps we need to send Governor elect Arnold Shwarzenegger an E-mail. :roll:

 

[james]

Used to work with a lot of forklifts & such that had been converted to natural gas. It's been quite a few years, but as I recall, engines with carburetors are dead easy to convert, and the same should hold true for hydrogen. Don't know how well it would work with fuel injectors, though. I'd think the metering would depend on the fuel being liquid.

However, I don't quite see where you get much of an environmental benefit from going from gasoline to natural gas. You're still burning fossil fuel, and so dumping exactly as much CO2 into the atmosphere.

 

[b1shmu63]

Propane which is used in forklifts probably produces a little less CO2, but is much cleaner regarding other nasty gasses. That's why they use it indoors instead of gasoline which produces deadly CO (carbon monoxide), sulfur dioxide, and various carcinogens. Natural gas which is CH4 is 80 percent hydrogen and therefore produces 80 percent water, 20 percent CO2, some NO2 from burning the nitrogen in air, and almost nothing else . It isn't perfect but it is a big improvement. The Canadian government considers it a safer fuel than gasoline. At least that's their story.