mike hunter

DEARBORN, Mich. - The relatively quick-and-easy answer to foreign oil
dependence and automotive greenhouse gas emissions is circling the grounds
every day at Orlando International Airport in Florida, according to a top
Ford Motor Co. official.

It's a utilitarian 12-passenger parking lot shuttle bus powered by a
6.8-liter internal combustion hydrogen engine, which Ford officials said is
their hydrogen technology that's closest to mass production.

"We really believe this technology is ready to be evaluated at the consumer
level," John Lapetz, the company's program manager for the buses, told
reporters on Tuesday at an event staged to tout Ford's future vehicles.

About 30 E-450 Hydrogen shuttle buses are working across the U.S. and
Canada, and Ford engineers are monitoring them electronically in real time,
Lapetz said. The vehicles, powered by a modified gasoline engine, have near
zero emissions and get up to 13 percent better fuel economy than their
gasoline counterparts, he said.

Nearly every automaker is testing hydrogen-powered vehicles across the
world, touting them as a renewable alternative to gasoline.

Lapetz said Ford has the ability to bring internal combustion hydrogen
technology to market in cars within five years. But that's only if fuel
storage limitations can be solved, public fear of hydrogen can be allayed,
filling stations set up, and gas prices stay high.

"The technology is there at a sufficient level, in the three-to-five year
window, if all things were perfect, we could reasonably think this is a
solution we could draw on," Lapetz said. "We're not really talking about
invention, that's the thing. We know how to manufacture this kind of
technology in high volumes."

That time frame is reasonable, Gurpreet Singh, team leader for engine and
emission control technologies with the U.S. Department of Energy, said
Tuesday.

"You're taking the base gasoline engine and modifying that. You don't need
to have anything that's very exotic," he said.

The Energy Department also says hydrogen can be used as safely as other
common fuels if handled properly.

Four of Ford's $250,000 buses currently are in service in Orlando, two at
the airport and two with the convention bureau. Ford has incurred the design
costs and relies on partners to pay for the buses, in this case the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection. The buses' range is limited to
150-200 miles by fuel storage technology, and they cost far more than the
roughly $70,000 Ford charges for shuttles powered by gas engines.

The first Orlando bus started shuttling passengers in April and has
performed reliably, said Carolyn Fennell, spokeswoman for the Greater
Orlando Aviation Authority.

Internal combustion hydrogen could be a bridge toward the ultimate hydrogen
vehicles powered by fuel cells, which are as far off as 2015 or beyond, said
Scott Staley, chief engineer of Ford's hydrogen and fuel cell technology
department.

Internal combustion hydrogen engines give off a small amount of pollution
because they burn lubricants, Lapetz said. Fuel cell vehicles, on the other
hand, use hydrogen to produce electricity that fuels an electric motor. They
are quieter than gasoline engines and their only waste product is water.

Despite the small amount of pollution, the internal combustion hydrogen
engines have another advantage, and that is a far lower cost than fuel
cells, Lapetz said.

"It doesn't have the sizzle of a fuel cell, but it's got the steak of the
meal," he said.

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caesar romano

And where would we get sufficient H2 to fuel millions of H2 car
engines?
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I filter all messages from google groups.

jeffutz

Where does the energy come from to make H2?

mike hunter

The local "Air Products" Plant, that produces Hydrogen, uses electricity to
do so. "Air Products" is the worlds biggest producer of Hydrogen.

alan b. mac farlane

Henry Ford already built a HEMP mobile ... all made out of Pot,
Marijuana, and it had a bio-diesel engine ... as you could grow
virtually everything in your back yard to make this car.

Now with Salt Water Bio-Diesel at $1 a gallon as there is NO DRILLING,
NO ICE ROAD, NO TRANSPORTATION COSTS $$$$$ in making bio-diesel.

Australia will be a bio-diesel exporter, change their eco system with
much more moisture and make money to boot.

The USA will REPLENISH their OIL FIELDS.

guess what ..

hydrogen cars will NEVER replenish oil fields now ...

will they.

My suggestion is WIN WIN WIN.

Your suggestion is that only you WIN .. there is only one win.

Upstairs niggers and the foxing white boys club like what you say.

sumbuddie not making disup

:?

derek gee

No, the car wasn't "all made out of pot". There was some hemp in it, along
with other natural fibers, but the evidence suggests it was mostly soybeans.

http://www.thehenryford.org/research/soybeancar.aspx

D