Fuel Cell How It Works

With Jon LeSage & Alaina Piro of Automotive Digest
Shad Balch
Environment & Energy Communications
General Motors Corp
One VC
Done inside the Chevy Equinox
Chevy Equinox:
an EV Powered by
Hydrogen Fuel Cell

The Green Team drives and reviews our first EV! Join Jon LeSage and I for a ride in the Chevy Equinox an electric vehicle powered by the latest GM hydrogen technology.

Hydrogen/Oxygen from water through excitement via rf signal 3000 watt rf transmision Test of output TFC#1 Oxy Hydrogen torch Output was restricted by tip size. Cold production. Subsiquent testing delivered 5 gallons per minute at 3200 watts over 20 gallon per minute at 8000 watts

We've all heard of hydrogen as the fuel of the future, but what will it take to get there from here?

Honda's guide to how the technology in its hydrogen fuel cell production vehicle - the FCX Clarity - works.

"Fuel cell cars, which run on electricity produced from compressed Hydrogen, emit zero harmful emissions and could be the future of motoring. They can be just as fast, practical, and can travel as far as a conventional petrol or diesel engine car, but the technology is very different. And importantly, the only thing that comes out of the exhaust is water vapour.

Rather than having a petrol or diesel tank like a conventional car, the fuel cell car has a tank that stores compressed Hydrogen as a gas. Hydrogen is used as an energy carrier, so that the fuel cell car can produce its own electricity onboard, rather than storing it in batteries.

This compressed Hydrogen is expanded and then fed into the fuel cell stack. The fuel cell stack is like a tiny electric power station. Inside it, the Hydrogen combines with Oxygen from the air to generate electricity and water as a byproduct. Water vapour is the fuel cell car's only emission.

The electricity created inside the fuel cell stack is used to power the electric motor, which is, in turn, used to drive the car. The fuel cell stack is made up of hundreds of individual cells stacked together like a loaf of bread. In fact, each cell is like a sandwich, with a Membrane Electrode Assembly (or MEA) between two separators (or Bi-Polar plates). The MEA is made up of a Proton Exchange Membrane, or PEM, which sits between Hydrogen and Oxygen electrode layers and gas diffusion layers.

In each cell, Hydrogen gas passes over the Hydrogen electrode. Each Hydrogen atom is converted into a Hydrogen ion in a catalytic reaction, releasing an electron in the process. The Hydrogen ions then pass through the electrolytic membrane, where they bond with Oxygen ions straight from the atmosphere. The previously emitted electrons from the Hydrogen molecules arrive at the Oxygen electrode via an external circuit. The released electrons create a flow of direct electrical current in the external circuit, and water is generated at the Oxygen electrode as a byproduct. This water is drained from the system and exits the car as water vapour via the exhaust.

Because the electricity is generated from Hydrogen and Oxygen, no Carbon Dioxide or other polluants are emitted from the car. It's the ultimate in clean performance. 

Honda's FCX Clarity is the world's first production fuel cell car and is already on sale in the US and Japan."

Andrew and Don visit ClearEdge Power in Hillsboro, Oregon to find out how their home unit turns natural gas into power and heat.