The Technology Context – B101

BMW HR2

Background

Many people own cars in today’s modern age. In 2001 there was a government census that 29 percent of households own two or more cars (National Statistics, 2001, p.4). Up 10% from 10 years before and I expect that 5 years on it will have gone up by about 5 percent. With all these cars greenhouse gasses must be on the increase. In 2005 transport alone produced over 25% of all co2 emissions (Key Facts about: Climate Change, 2006, p.1) and with transport being the only main contributor of CO2 emissions on the increase, Transport will be the largest contributor of co2 emissions by 2010.
The government has set the target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent between 1990 and 2010. This target origin is from the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 whereby it was outlined that the UK should reduce emissions by 12.5 percent, but the government decided to up this 20 percent. Although we do not look like making the 20 percent mark it is estimated that a 15 to 18 percent reduction will be made by the end of the decade (2006, Para 2).The Kyoto Protocol has also set a target to reduce CO2 emissions 60 percent by 2050. If cars and other modes of transport that produce CO2 was reduced or eliminated then this would be a reduction of almost 28 percent, added to this the 15 to 18 percent already predicted to be achieved then this would be a very feasible target indeed.
On the face of it does seem to be a mammoth task but with the average car age being approximately 14 years old (commission for integrated transport, 2005, Para 5). In 10 years if hydrogen was established then give 15 years for hydrogen economy to catch on, Leaving 18 years free for the petrol car to be slowly phased out by people buying new cars, This would not completely remove the petrol car population but it would be very significantly reduce it.

What are the alternatives to petrol cars?

Many alternatives are available the main suggested are electric, hybrid, solar, natural gas and hydrogen. Electric cars are perfect for commuting and cheaper than petrol, No noise and of course have non toxic emissions. But have a limited range that they can travel, Batteries are expensive and take time to recharge. Hybrid cars cut out 50% of toxic emissions and do not need recharging as they charge there battery as you drive using energy from breaking and going downhill. But the cars are relatively expensive and the batteries are heavy. Once the short life span of the battery has expired they are a danger to the environment. Also the car is only 50% green, it’s a very good compromise nether the less. Solar cars as they run on sun have 100% free fuel and are 100% green, though the solar panels are very easily damaged and without sunlight to power the car they have limited distance they can travel (As they will only run on the power they have stored during sunlight hours). Natural gas cars have cheaper fuel costs then its petrol counterpart and natural gas is greener and safer then petrol. But natural gas has less miles to the gallon therefore a larger petrol tank which leaves less room inside the car, also there are far less stations to refuel at. Finally hydrogen cars, there are two type of hydrogen cars. A hydrogen fuel cell car is essentially an electric car with a hydrogen fuel cell to give the car electricity to run on. Also there are hydrogen combustion engine cars that run solely on hydrogen instead of petrol but the engine is very similar. Hydrogen cars do not produce any green house gasses and the only by-product is water. Many people have many different views on what should be the future and what will be the future (that could be a whole different paper). I think that the most viable alternative is the hydrogen combustion engine rather than the fuel cell although the hydrogen fuel cell is the ‘odds-on’ favourite to be the future method to power vehicles.

Why hydrogen is the winner

The reason why liquid hydrogen I believe is the most viable future alternative mode of transport is the combustion engine has been developed for well over 100 years and the hydrogen combustion engine works in a very similar way. One pound of hydrogen produces 3 times the amount of enginery as one pound of petrol (2001, Para 4). Although Hydrogen is less dense so it would take up more room for the fuel tank.
The problem with hydrogen is that it is a gas so the fuel tank would take up much more room than the traditional petrol tank. The tank can be reduced by compressing the hydrogen into a liquid but this also requires the hydrogen to be cooled at -253oC (2003, Para 5), which would take cryogenics, this would increase the size of the tank further and take a considerable power consumption. But a way to store the hydrogen in minerals called zeolite crystals is being researched by NASA, zeolite crystals are very small minerals that act like a sponge that can potentially absorb the hydrogen inside the zeolite without the need for large bulky cryogenics. Once the hydrogen is needed the crystals (that would be inside the fuel tank) can be heated slightly which will release some of the zeolites holdings(2003, Para 9). The other benefit of using zeolite crystals is that in the case of the fuel tank being ruptured the crystals would allow the hydrogen be released slowly making it less likely there would be an explosion.

Hydrogen cons

Hydrogen is 100% green, when it is burned the only by-product is water. But the way hydrogen is produced can produce green house gasses. There is two methods of making hydrogen the first is to reform natural gas or oil, There are two by-products of this one is hydrogen and the other is carbon that would release into the atmosphere as CO2. This method would reduce CO2 emissions but not eradicate it. The other method is to use electrolysis to split water. This process has two by-products hydrogen and oxygen, the only problem with this is where you get the power from to split the water. If the power is from nuclear, wind or wave power then this would give us a 100% green fuel.

Issues/people’s problems and misunderstanding of hydrogen as a fuel

Hydrogen is dangerous?

Hydrogen will never be as available as fuel

Current filling stations currently have the facility to fit in hydrogen fuel pump in a similar way to diesel was fitted although in 2006 there was only 1 liquid hydrogen pump at a petrol station in the UK(“Wanted: filling stations“, 2006, Para 4), This was fitted for a hydrogen bus trial in London the trial was successful and there are now plans to increase the number of busses. With more demand there should be a need for more hydrogen filling stations and one must hope the bus scheme continues to be fruitful to increase the availability of hydrogen fuel to the everyday person.

Hydrogen cars will be lacking in performance

I believe this will be mostly the American market as in America a 4 litre engine in a car is not unusual. But a hydrogen car has been developed that out performs its petrol counter parts. The hydrogen car developed in just 10 months By BMW it is faster 0 to 60 and it top speed are both better then the BMW Z3, what is this car? The BMW HR2 (Dawe, 2004, p. para 12). (2005, p. Para 3)

Why the HR2 is a good example car for the hydrogen opposers?

The HR2 is a great example of what can be achieved with a liquid hydrogen car. It has a top end the same as a 2000 Porsche 911. With a Break horse power of 285 added to this power the car including driver weighs only 1560 kg. (2007, p. Para 10) With power like this no wonder the car has set 9 international land speed records for hydrogen cars (2007, p. Para 1). This really is a fast car that lays the path for future hydrogen automobiles. I think this shows that a hydrogen car is capable of keeping some of the most speed hungry drivers happy. This has been achieved partly by using a carbon fibre shell with a aluminium frame, Other technologies have been used like a technology called Valvetronic. A system where depending on how much the throttle is pressed it will vary the amount of air going into the combustion chamber thus improving efficacy (Valvetronic engines use a combination of hardware and software to eliminate the need for a conventional throttle mechanism., 2007).

Will this car ever be on our roads?

The HR2 is undoubtedly a fine piece of hydrogen engineering but I feel quite positive in saying that we will never see this car on our roads but that is not to say a hydrogen car will never be on our roads. What the HR2 does is give a good concept for engineers to build around. As technology drops in price it should be more attainable to get a Hydrogen car in mass production for our roads, for example in the late sixties carbon fibre was around £200 a KG and by 1996 it was £15 to £40 a KG (Cripps, p. Para 2).Last Year BMW Produced 100 “7 series” (Montague, 2007, p. Para 11) cars, These cars have a petrol and hydrogen combustion engine although the hydrogen can only go 125 miles per a full tank it is a very good start. Cars like this give the demand for hydrogen fuel and hopefully create opportunity for hydrogen refuelling stations to crop up across the UK in the following years. The US Department of Energy also plans to reduce cost of hydrogen to $2 to $3 (in line with the price of petrol) by 2015 (Montague, 2007, p. Para 6) thus making hydrogen a viable alternative for the future. Meaning the 28 percent and increasing CO2 emissions produced by transport possible to be dramatically decreased.




BMW HR2. (2005). Retrieved january 5, 2008, from Hydrogen cars: http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/bmw-hr2.htm

Cripps, D. (n.d.). Carbon Fibre/Fiber. Retrieved january 10, 2008, from NETCOMPOSITE: http://www.netcomposites.com/education.asp?sequence=35

Dawe, J. (2004, January 1). BMW Z3 3.0. Retrieved January 11, 2008, from Time online: http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/used_car_reviews/article1075260.ece

Dr. Tony Phillips, T.P. (2003, April 17th). Rocks in your Gas Tank: Experiments Onboard the International Space Station Could Accelerate the Drive Toward a Hydrogen-Based Economy. Retrieved January 11th 2008, from http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/everydaylife/apr_zeolite.html.

European comparison of taxes on car ownership and use index. (2005). (The average lifespan of a UK car 2). Retrieved January 10th, 2008, from commission for integrated transport website: http://www.cfit.gov.uk/docs/2001/scot0122/scot0122/02.htm

Hydrogen propulsion shifts from rockets to racers as BMW sets nine new speed records, marking the start of the hydrogen age for automobiles. (2007). Retrieved January 8, 2008, from US auto parts: http://www.usautoparts.net/bmw/hydrogen/h2r_racer.htm

Key Facts about: Climate Change. (2006). (Carbon dioxide emissions by end user: 1970-2005 ) Retrieved November 11, 2007, from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/globatmos/kf/gakf07.htm

Laurie Powers, L.P. (2003, June 25th). Flexibly fuelled storage tank brings hydrogen-powered cars closer to reality. Retrieved January 10th, 2008, from https://www.llnl.gov/str/June03/Aceves.html

Montague, B. (2007, October 28). Mass-market hydrogen car is ready to roll. Retrieved January 9, 2008, from Times online: http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/article2753979.ece

National Statistics. (2001). Census 2001 - People and their homes in England and Wales. Retrieved January 7, 2008, from the National Statistics website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/commentaries/housing.asp

Thammy Evans, Peter Light, T.E. P.L. (2001). Hydrogen — a little PR - benefits of using hydrogen as an alternative fuel. Retrieved January 11th 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0GER/is_2001_Winter/ai_81790153/pg_1

UK to miss CO2 emissions target(2006, March 28th). Retrieved January 8th, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4849672.stm

Valvetronic engines use a combination of hardware and software to eliminate the need for a conventional throttle mechanism. (2007). Retrieved january 12, 2008, from US auto parts: http://www.usautoparts.net/bmw/technology/valvetronic.htm

Wanted: filling stations (2006, November 19th). The Sunday Times, retrieved January 12th, 2008, from the times online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2105-2457904.html