Water-fuel car unveiled in Japan

yuvrajjj · #1 21st June 2008, 07:10 PM

Jun. 13 - Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water.

The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car's tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=84561

kkseal · #2 21st June 2008, 10:06 PM

Skeptic: Even if this works (I'm somewhat skeptical short of more proof), the product is not economic at either their current manufacturing cost ($18,522 for 300 Wp or $61.74 per Wp) or their target rate ($5,000 for 300 Wp or $16.67 per Wp). The use of water for fuel is just a curiosity because the cost is greater than that of traditional fuel cells AND their fuel costs*.

I would also want to know about their stack life. Stack life is a huge problem for all fuel cells - many of which have lives measured in hours (typically 6 months to 4 years of continuous operation. For this product to achieve grid parity, it would need a 20 year stack life at 9.5 cents per KWH grid prices or 10 years at 19 cents per KWH.

Genepax response: "The stack life is not yet in data but we imagine our stack would last as long as other fuel cell stack. We have data of other fuel cell in public and it lasts 40,000 hours." Best regards, Jun Onishi

* Add to this the cost of periodically replacing the metal hydride (the real fuel) that's used to split H2O into it's constituents

columbus · #3 21st June 2008, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yuvrajjj

Jun. 13 - Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water.

The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car's tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=84561

Thanks for the info and video.Yes,I saw in news recently when they were covering some Auto Expo.

columbus · #4 22nd June 2008, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kkseal

Skeptic: Even if this works (I'm somewhat skeptical short of more proof), the product is not economic at either their current manufacturing cost ($18,522 for 300 Wp or $61.74 per Wp) or their target rate ($5,000 for 300 Wp or $16.67 per Wp). The use of water for fuel is just a curiosity because the cost is greater than that of traditional fuel cells AND their fuel costs*.

I would also want to know about their stack life. Stack life is a huge problem for all fuel cells - many of which have lives measured in hours (typically 6 months to 4 years of continuous operation. For this product to achieve grid parity, it would need a 20 year stack life at 9.5 cents per KWH grid prices or 10 years at 19 cents per KWH.

Genepax response: "The stack life is not yet in data but we imagine our stack would last as long as other fuel cell stack. We have data of other fuel cell in public and it lasts 40,000 hours." Best regards, Jun Onishi

* Add to this the cost of periodically replacing the metal hydride (the real fuel) that's used to split H2O into it's constituents

Yes,if they come out with any model which can run on SOLAR energy it is better since it is a proven energy source which is vastly used in SATELLITES.