One more thing with hydrogen. If i remember correctly it oly gets about 25-30% of the mileage that gasoline does. Have to have a pretty good sized tank.

 

Also, as a gas hydrogen isnt terrible safe. Hindenburg anyone?

Instead of having a liquid tank, you'll have a pressurized gas tank. Not the best thing to have around in a vehicle that may very well be involved in a high speed crash....

 

Quotes from Ballard- (they may be biased but FWIW)

Is hydrogen a safe fuel?
All fuels have combustible properties and therefore require appropriate safety precautions. Like any other fuel, hydrogen must be treated with respect.

Hydrogen has some unique properties when compared to other fuels, such as gasoline. For instance, hydrogen for cars is stored in a very strong tank, so in the case of a collision the chance of a fuel leak is less likely than that from a thin metal gasoline tank. As well, hydrogen’s lighter-than-air properties allow it to dissipate rapidly in the surrounding air if a leak occurs, rather than pooling around potential sources of ignition, as gasoline does. Hydrogen also burns without smoke - this is important because smoke inhalation is the number one cause of death in gasoline fires.

Ballard fuel cells require either hydrogen or a hydrocarbon fuel to operate, however the company is not involved in the production or storage of hydrogen.

For more information about hydrogen please refer to the web site of the National Hydrogen Association at www.hydrogenus.com.

Wasn’t the Hindenburg disaster caused by hydrogen?
A study published in 1997 showed that the tragedy of the Hindenburg was a result of atmospheric electricity and the flammable fabric covering on the airship, not the hydrogen that kept it aloft. German documents from the time of the accident confirmed that hydrogen was not to blame for the disaster.

HTH

 

At our farm we use diesel with 10% soybean biodiesel. I couldnt tell at difference in performance than regular diesel. I think if they would sell 50 percent diesel and 50 percent soybean oil, that would help our foreign oil dependancy and help American farmers. Same goes with gasoline and corn ethanol.

 

So what happens when you get into a wreck in an electric car and the batteries are burst open?

 

The only alternative fuel that i know of that even comes close is that diesel fuel that's made from hemp. It's supposidly clean and just as good as regular diesal, however it costs twice as much as regular diesal does. Try convincing a truck company on that one.

While its indeed true that gasoline cars and trucks are going to be around for a long time, hemp seed oil is not even close to the only way to produce biodiesel. Any number of seed oils such as sunflower, rapeweed, soybean, and safflower are perfectly good for biodiesel production, and although I dont know the cost of producing hemp, the others are reasonable.

The big thing with biodiesel production is that it can be done with waste vegetable oil (WVO). THis is cheap and also reduces having that crap in dumps and storm drains.

As for the performance and enviromental factors, I have heard a few different things. It does greatly reduce all by products of regular diesel, even with a 20/80 mix, except for NOx. It is apparently just as economical if not more so than petroldiesel and you can expect a slight drop in horesepower of about 2-3% depending on your engine.

Some of the environmental keys are as follows:
1. 100% biodegradable and non toxic (although the production phase requires some toxic materials, namely lye and methanol/ethanol).
2. It is less toxic to the environment than salt
3. Significantly reduces emissons aside from NOx.

Anyhow, we are in the process of putting together plans for a biodiesel plant in the near future, so if you have questions, I have plenty of articles and links for more reference.

 

Ballard is working on several uses for these things. They ve been doing test runs on busses in Germany for a while now, as well as having many modified Mercedes and Fords around the Ballard campus. The thing of the cars is that it seems to lose some low end zip. Once your going its supposed to be virtually soundless (which is a little disconcerting to me, I wanna hear that baby roar) and responsive.

They also have fuel cells that can power an entire home. They are a cool idea and if I ever manage to get myself enough dough to live in the middle of nowhere I ll look into one. THe issue for both though is filling the H.

 

What kind of costs are you looking at for your gallon of 10/90 versus straight petroldiesel? And where do you get your biodiesel? Is there a dealer/supplier near you or do you produce it yourself on site?

 

hell simple. back in the 60s oil was 3 bucks a barrel wheat was 3 bucks a bushel. were dumb enough to keep wheat prices low and give it away. what ever opec charges a barrel we charge for a bushel. let our farmers drive the rolls royces and buy hotels and jets. farmers here are selling the land to home developers cant blame em. anyway nice thought to make the farmers rich..lol

 

A buddy of mine and his friend are experimenting with biodiesel. Apparently it's not too difficult to make. They have a "test" vehicle.. a $400 vw rabbit. I know they have to make a few changes to the car, but I think it should work.. I believe they are using used grease from fast food places as part of the "formula".

 

Look at Brazil, their currency is worth nothing (OK next to nothing) on the world market. They produce their own diesel from grain products and import very little fossil fuels. Imagine if all the money we sent to OPEC was instead kept in the US - the boom to the economy would be unimaginable. I believe the break even point on biofuels is when crude hits $30 per barrel. Several small operations are starting up in Kansas and I'm sure elsewhere in the US. Somebody has to be supplying Casey's with their gasohol.

 

EXCELLENT....If these alt. fuel supplies, any or all of them, proliferate and become popular, gasoilne demand will go down, thats the cause and effect of it, and conversely, our 6,7,8,9 or 10 MPG trucks that are almost old enough to be considered "collectible" will be cheap to fill up now theres a thought

Kevin

 

Yep, but expect your bills for basic food stuffs to eat up the difference.

Kannata

 

well im waiting to hear from greasel on a kit for my 89 VW. hardest part is storing the oil. looking into an old 275 gallon oil tank and see what happens. if it works ill look into a kit for my other 2 diesels. Funny as a kid when gas went from 30 to 50 cents a gallon folks were geting the tanks sucked dry and had to put locking caps on. now its almost 2 bucks (if not 3 ) and we still dont do a thing. Go figure. free fuel or close to it is a helluva lot better than 2 bucks plus. Gee i wonder if the prices will rise for the summer? LOLOL stay safe, jimmy

 

"Yep, but expect your bills for basic food stuffs to eat up the difference."


It would hardly be noticeable. There is less then a nickle's worth of wheat in a loaf of bread, if the price of wheat doubled your cost goes up a nickle a loaf. There's more of a variance from store to store then that. A box of corn flakes has even about $.06, and it costs more to have Tiger Woods on a box of Wheaties then it costs to put the cerial in the box. The raw material cost of food is the cheapest part of the final product.