Hydrogen conversion kits on adverts

[Gar]

Who wants to be the guinea pig

http://www.adverts.ie/3776846

http://smartfuel.ie/

[Peter-E36]

From watching the Honda FCX Clarity on top gear a few years ago, I'm fully convinced that hydrogen is the future, fill up as normal and go - as opposed to the ridiculous idea of having to wait 12hrs+ to recharge a battery so you can go another 50-60 miles!

Nothing but water coming out of the exhaust keeps environmental people happy too.

I wouldn't go fitting that to my e36 though

[listermint]

Am i missing something, or em what the hell are these things ?

[Peter-E36]

Hydrogen cars are basically cars with electric motors but instead of batteries they have "hydrogen power stations" onboard, so you fuel the car with compressed hydrogen and the onboard power station converts it to electricity to run the electric motor, you get pretty much the same range and same performance and the only thing that comes out of the exhaust is water.

And ofcourse since you will need compressed hydrogen which you will be getting from petrol stations, all the big oil companies are more than happy to accommodate it as that way they'll still be taking your money and it's already "conveniently" priced almost the same as petrol in California (where all this hydrogen business started around 2006 or so)

[listermint]

Hydrogen cars are basically cars with electric motors but instead of batteries they have "hydrogen power stations" onboard, so you fuel the car with compressed hydrogen and the onboard power station converts it to electricity to run the electric motor, you get pretty much the same range and same performance and the only thing that comes out of the exhaust is water.

And ofcourse since you will need compressed hydrogen which you will be getting from petrol stations, all the big oil companies are more than happy to accommodate it as that way they'll still be taking your money and it's already "conveniently" priced almost the same as petrol in California (where all this hydrogen business started around 2006 or so)

No i get what a Hyrdrogen car does of course.

But what im asking is what the hell are these kits. Something akin to getting LPG installed in a car ? they look like a fake toy.

[Gar]

I dont understand how that kit on adverts works either , reminds me of the electric superchargers

[John_D]

nuclear-bomb-explosion.jpg

[Gar]

No you be grand you have the bubbler bottle to prevent flashback

[Verdigris]

The only major caveat with hydrogen is that it is has quite a low energy density unless compressed to a ridiculously high psi and thus the need for an extremely strong tank.
I'm not sure that were at the stage yet that we can afford every Joe and Mary to be driving around with pressure vessels full of a combustable liquid on board
(At these pressures it is in liquid form).

More over, whilst hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe it tends to arrive stuck to other things, requiring energy to separate it through a chemical process or electrolysis; as with the kit above. You won't get something for nothing or even for €184, and with the kit above even if their electrolytic reaction is 100% efficient (it won't be) you are still only converting petrol into electricity through your alternator, which in turn separates out the hydrogen in the water, which goes back into the engine. You're converting energy dense petroleum into low density hydrogen; zero sum gained.
Whilst the theory holds true that hydrogen can be retrieved from water, in real world scenarios, namely with retrofit kits like these, they are in the same category as Turbonators, fuel sharks or fuel line magnets; sudo scientific nonsense.

Spend the money on a good service and a bottle of diptane instead.

[Ketron]

I think it works by making energy out the discombobulator...very similar technology to magic beans!

Absolute waste of money!

http://www.smartfuel.ie/solutions/all-egines-of-cars-and-suv-2/30a-pwm/item/47-1400-2800-cm3-vdc-2000-set.html?p=solutions/all-egines-of-cars-and-suv-2/30a-pwm/item/47-1400-2800-cm3-vdc-2000-set.html&videoid=yjqkHhWUKOU