Nissan has revealed the worlds first solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) vehicle that runs on bio-ethanol electric power. The e-Bio Fuel-Cell offers eco-friendly transportation and creates opportunities for regional energy production, all the while supporting the existing infrastructure, said Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn.
In the future, the e-Bio Fuel-Cell will become even more user-friendly. Ethanol-blended water is easier and safer to handle than most other fuels. Without the need to create new infrastructure, it has great potential to drive market growth, he added.
The vehicle here is based on a Nissan e-NV200, and comes equipped with a 24 kWh battery and a hydrogen fuel cell. However, instead of filling the tanks with hydrogen, the car uses ethanol, which goes through a reformer in the SOFC system, to produce hydrogen for the fuel cell. The van is claimed to have a cruising range of about 600 km.
Unlike hydrogen, ethanol can be readily distributed from available infrastructure as mentioned by Ghosn. Therefore, you can refill a SOFC vehicle at a regular fuel station that offers ethanol. The downside here is, reforming ethanol into hydrogen will produce a small amount of CO2.
However, the company says the CO2 produced can be offset by the plants (corn, soy and sugar cane) that are used to produce ethanol, allowing for what Nissan calls a carbon neutral cycle. Of course, the CO2 output associated with the system doesnt take into account the amount generated to produce ethanol...snip Read More: http://paultan.org/2016/08/05/nissan-unveils-worlds-first-solid-oxide-fuel-cell-vehicle/
and another fuel cartel is created, this time associated with agribusiness. We cannot create enough ethanol to replace the existing vehicle population with such vehicles but I'm sure the establishment will have fun trying. feed people not vehicles
Anything that uses large consumption of agribusiness or fresh water will only make more problems.
Ethanol is not the solution.
As for fresh or drinking water is a death trap for humans.
Electric driven off solar[not very good today], nuclear, NG or coal is the present and future. It seems we the sheeple are impatient and want change now instead of waiting for it to happen.
It seems we the sheeple are impatient and want change now instead of waiting for it to happen.
I don't think that is so, we are told we must change, but most people want the assurance of systems they know work. The problem is some vehicles are suited to certain climates just as various electricity generation systems are suited to various climates. I cannot image solar being the answer for North America and Europe, but there are places where it will work very well. What we need is a way of converting CO2 to energy without going through the plant growth cycle. This should be possible since oxygen is a fuel and carbon burns well in the presence of oxygen
The millennials are impatient. Spoiled is what I would call it.
There is no way fuel from agribusiness will every amount to anything but much higher prices for the consumer(which you seem to agree with).
Solar is sidekick energy that someday may actually be viable. Its a nice addition to some products.
As of right now petroleum is the only viable energy for transportation. Nuclear, coal and NG are the only real viable energy for non transportation use.
where did I say I agreed with agribusiness being involved in the fuel business. it is true we will eventually need a replacement for oil, when that time comes the development of 3D printing may revolutionise the transport industry and even agribusiness
You did not. We both agree its a bad idea but maybe for different reason.
There is no way to grow fuel to replace oil. To me ethanol has always been a big loser. Energy in ethanol is much less than oil so we lose on cost of production and efficiency. No one ever looks at the water consumed to farm.
Oil is here to stay for at least another 25 years and probably 50.
My thought on transportation is hybrid vehicles. Plug it into the grid at night and have fuel for back up. Once we can get 300+ miles on a charge then it will become viable. Here in the south solar is a good sidekick to help during day driving(Yes I know we have a long way to go on solar cells). But we must have nuclear, coal and ng for the main grid to make electric vehicles viable. Stupid greenie types don't get this and kill their own plans because somehow they think solar will be enough to power vehicles and houses.
Maybe instead of yapping away on an obscure internet chat site you should tell the top engineers at Honda, and while you're at it, Toyota, Mercedes, Hyundai and Kia. Because you could save them all a lot of money. You'd be a hero too, maybe get a parade.
50 years ago Americans went to the moon (supposedly). Now all they can do is sit around on their big fat asses watching their treasury looted by a bunch of criminal con artists. Shame. A tragedy in fact.
When I see a viable hydrogen vehicle hybrids while own the street.
Many things sound good but in the end they are just pipe dreams. Just like turning corn into ethanol. Sounds good and works but is extremely expensive to do. Side effects are much less energy is produced for the same amount of fuel. You steal fresh water needed for humans to consume. Truth is you consume more petroleum to produce near the same amount of ethanol. So you do not save and make the problem worse. But hey you feel good screwing the pooch! ;)
This is the stupidist way to make hydrogen ive ever read. Hydrogen fuel cells already exist and hydrogen on demand generators work just fine so there is no reason to use ethenol to get hyrdrogen but to maintain the petro monopoly.... smh
It is possible, just do a search on HHO powered engines. From small lawn mower engines to motorcycles to semi trucks any internal combustion engine can be converted to hydrogen. And one doesnt need to use ethonal to do it. Water, lye, and a dc current accomplish hydrogen on demand just fine.
Of course that doesnt fit well with the petro monoply but it cant stop you from converting your own engines.
It's not necessarily intended as a final production prototype. It could be, and at least in part certainly is, one tech milestone on a longer road to further innovations.