hydrogenhighway
Fuel cell cars that get their energy from hydrogen are already on the market in dribs and drabs. The Hyundai Nexo, the Toyota Mirai, the BMW iX5 Hydrogen have recently also been added. And yet the fuel cell car is not something that only started a few years ago, in fact, car manufacturers already made attempts to develop a fuel cell car in the 1960s.
For starters, the fuel cell is older than the car itself. As early as 1838, the Swiss physicist and chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein noticed that when he allowed hydrogen and oxygen to flow along two platinum wires dipped in hydrochloric acid, an electrical voltage difference was created between the two wires. With this, Schönbein discovered the principle of the fuel cell. It will not be until 1958 before tractor manufacturer Allis-Chalmers demonstrates the D12, an electric tractor with a 15 kW alkaline fuel cell package. This package, which consists of 1,008 cells, does not work with hydrogen, but with propane (C3H8). Propane is rich in hydrogen, but easier to handle than pure hydrogen, but unfortunately it also contains carbon, which poisons the cells.
The automotive industry is hooking up with hydrogen in space travel
To put the first man on the moon, the astronauts would have to spend a long time in space, more than a week to begin with. This places specific requirements on, for example, the electricity supply on board the space capsules. Batteries prove insufficient and when NASA launches Gemini 5 on August 21, 1965, it is equipped with fuel cells. These are the days when all of America seems to be under the spell of space travel, we find space-age futurism everywhere. Not only in films and on TV, the car industry is also hooking up. One by one, the car manufacturers come up with studies that would not be out of place in Star Trek. And it doesn’t just stop at appearances in Detroit. Chrysler experiments with turbine engines and in 1963 even has a small series of 50 units built at car couturier Ghia in Italy, which is actually delivered to a group of selected customers for evaluation.
With GMC Handivan, GM laid the foundation for a hydrogen car
Aerospace engineering is also in vogue at GM. Only no rocket technology as with Chrysler, but the fuel cell. The basis for the hydrogen car is a lot less sexy and tough: the GMC Handivan, a silly van. The Electrovan is being developed in two years with 200 people (it may take some time).
The cart will finally make one trip in October 1966, across the GM property. The engineers riding along (because of the complexity no one else is allowed to drive it) go crazy with the clicking and clicking relays, because electronics were not yet included in those days. Well, the goal has been achieved. Driving on hydrogen is possible and with that this car gets a one-way ticket to oblivion.
Mercedes-Benz in 1994 with the MB 100 on hydrogen
GM’s van has gone so far that when Mercedes-Benz comes up with a fuel cell car in 1994, the Germans claim they are the first. It is only when the Electrovan is pulled out from under the dust that things turn out to be different. However, the German project with the equally unsexy MB100 van is the serious kick-off for the current generation of hydrogen cars. GM will not make itself heard again until 2000 with the hydrogen Opel Zafira Hydrogen1.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl