Ford first to begin production of hydrogen internal combustion engine
Today Ford began production of a dedicated hydrogen internal combustion engine at its Engine Manufacturing Development Operations in Dearborn Heights, MI, which makes it the first automaker to do so. The engine is a supercharged 6.8-liter V10 that will be used in the E-450 hydrogen-fueled shuttle bus. Ford will be delivering the vehicle to customers in Florida first, although didn't say how or where said customers would refuel their shuttle bus when necessary.The V10 engine delivers 235 horsepower and 310 ft-lbs of torque while producing near zero emissions of regulated pollutants and greenhouse gases. That's not a lot of power, but not a lot of pollutants, either. While based on the same V10 that Ford uses in many of its truck and commercial vehicle applications, this unit has many specialized components that optimize it for use with hydrogen as a fuel (see list after the jump).
Over the years Ford produced a large number of hydrogen-powered concept and experimental vehicles, including a fleet of 30 hydrogen-powered Focus fuel cell vehicles, the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE, and most recently the Super Chief Concept that debuted at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show, which was capable of running on hydrogen, E85 or gasoline.
(Follow the jump for the engine's full specifications and a list of its specialized components)
[Source: Ford]
Technical Specifications
- Type - 6.8L SOHC V-10
- Manufacturing Location - Engine Manufacturing Development Operations, Beech Daly Technical Center, Dearborn Heights, Mich.
- Configuration - 90-degree V-10, cast iron block and aluminum heads with hardened seats
- Intake Manifold - Aluminum
- Supercharger - 3.3L/rev, twin screw compressor
- Exhaust Manifold - Cast stainless steel
- Crankshaft - Forged steel
- Redline - 5,000 rpm
- Throttle Body - Twin 60 mm, electronic
- Valvetrain - Hydraulic lash adjusters with roller followers, 2 valves per cylinder
- Valve Diameter - Intake: 42.5 mm Exhaust: 34.0 mm
- Pistons - High temperature forged aluminum alloy with low-friction coated skirts, ultra low oil consumption piston rings
- Connecting Rods - Forged steel
- Ignition - Coil-on Plug coils, 9.5 AMP, Iridium tipped spark plugs
- Bore x Stroke - 3.55 x 4.16 in / 90.2 x 105.8 mm
- Displacement - 415 cu in / 6,751 cc
- Compression Ratio - 9.4:1
- Horsepower - 235 @ 4000 rpm
- Horsepower per Liter - 34.5
- Peak Boost - 18-20 psi
- Torque - 310 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm
- Recommended Fuel - Hydrogen
- Fuel Injection - Sequential multiport fuel injection
- Oil Capacity - 6 quarts, with filter
- Recommended Oil - Castrol Synthetic, 5W-20
Specialized components in the engine include:
- Valves and valve seats – special hardened materials are used to compensate for hydrogen's reduced lubricating properties compared to gasoline or natural gas
- Spark plugs – Iridium tipped plugs allow for increased spark plug life
- Ignition coils – high energy coil-on-plug coils, to manage unique ignition characteristics
- Fuel injectors and fuel rail – Fuel injectors designed specifically for hydrogen and high volume fuel rails
- Crank damper – tuned for hydrogen fuel to ensure smooth operation
- Pistons, connecting rods and piston rings – high output designs to accommodate the higher combustion pressure of hydrogen combustion
- Head gasket – accommodates increased combustion chamber pressures
- Intake manifold – all-new to accommodate twin screw supercharger and water-to-air intercooler
- Twin screw supercharger and water-to-air intercooler – added to improve power output and maximize efficiency
- Engine oil – full-synthetic formulation developed in partnership with BP/Castrol optimized for hydrogen combustion properties
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
dre 5:35PM (7/17/2006)
6.8L, supercharged, V10.... 235hp? Is that a Typo? Or are the energy producing characteristics of hydrogen that bad? Or do Ford's engineers just suck?
Reply
SF 5:44PM (7/17/2006)
Horsepower per Liter - 34.5!!!
Where's the beef?
Reply
Jeff Banks 5:58PM (7/17/2006)
come on guys, considering this is one of the first mass-produced hydrogen engines EVER, you could give them a little room. I had no idea hydrogren engines looked so similar to petrol engines.
Anything like this is a step in the right direction towards a less oil-dependent world since you can use a lot of energy sources (oil, coal, nuclear, solar, etc) to make hydrogen. It may not be the "future" but maybe it will be PART of whatever the future of cars is.
Reply
G 6:16PM (7/17/2006)
Not a lot of power, though, who really needs it to truck out some pensioners in flat Florida?
http://www.automobilesdeluxe.blogspot.com
Reply
GeoTracker 6:20PM (7/17/2006)
This is going to for naught if you can't make hydrogen with out resorting to a fossil fuel to power the electrolysis.
Reply
edwoodca 6:29PM (7/17/2006)
Any word on when that Mr. Fusion from "Back to the Future" will hit the market?
Other than it sticking out like a sore thumb on retrofits, it'll make dumpster-diving a socially acceptable pastime.
Reply
gwballin 6:47PM (7/17/2006)
Personally I am very pleased with this news. I think this may be the perfect solution to those that don't want electric (fuel cell) cars with all the benefits. That is not to say that this technology is perfect yet, but this is a step in the right direction. In my perfect world, my '05 GTO would have all the performance it has now but instead of gasoline it would be fueled by hydrogen. I think that would be the best of both worlds.
BTW, doesn't BMW have an IC engine that is fueled by hydrogen? I know it is not in production, but I thought they had a car to showcase the technology.
Reply
Charles S 6:51PM (7/17/2006)
"Anything like this is a step in the right direction towards a less oil-dependent..."
Our government only supports hydrogen coming from fossil fuels, and not from renewables. Any future infrastructure for hydrogen will favor fossil fuels and nuclear power. I suspect coal will play a role if we are desperate.
In terms of efficiency, burning hydrogen in an ICE is the least efficient way to use hydrogen. Since we will never make enough hydrogen with current technology, higher efficiency of fuel-cell would worth more. The main motivation to hydrogen ICE is just to save automanufacturers in cost.
Lastly, if fossil fuel is too expensive to make hydrogen, the electricity from nuclear plants would still be better use for an EV, than a hydrogen ICE. EV would be cheaper than fuel-cells, and no need for hydrogen fueling stations.
Not that there is not a place for hydrogen ICE today. It's cheaper to develop. It's clean so that places that requires such application would excel.
Reply
Eric 6:51PM (7/17/2006)
Let the American bashing begin.
If this were Toyota or Honda, it could be a V-20 producing 1hp mounted in a Civic or Camry and you all would rejoice and proclaim them as the saviors of the world.
Jeff Banks, I agree - give them some latitude. But we all know that won't happen since it's Ford - it would be worse if it were GM.
Dre - you're a moron.
Reply
david 7:05PM (7/17/2006)
#9 Way to promote any meaningful conversation :thumbs up:
What IS nice about hydrogen ICE's is that people can convert their old gasoline ICE's to run on hydrogen: http://www.switch2hydrogen.com/
It may not be super efficent, but it's a lot easier to impliment than replacing ALL the vehicles out there with fuel cell cars, EV's, etc.
Reply
Baron von Hindenberg 7:07PM (7/17/2006)
Besides consuming far more energy than it produces, hydrogen is probably way too explosive for public use.
Reply
dre 7:21PM (7/17/2006)
Pull your head out of your ass Eric. I'm not from america and I could give two shits about you guys so called 'imports vs domestics', ive owned cars from america, germany and japan, if any other automaker built this, my comment would be the same.
If you noticed, I asked if it was a case of the engineering or if this method of using hydrogen (or the fuel itself) is inefficient. I do agree with Jeff, that maybe they should be given lattitude, but in my view, thats what causes complacency and I see no reason why a 6.8L supercharged engine should only produce 235hp regardless of what fuel its running on.
Eric, you are a prick
Reply
Edmond Rousseau 7:47PM (7/17/2006)
Any engineers out there care to speculate on what HP this engine would make if fueled by gasoline, F85 fuel or another gas ,which is available most everywhere,
( propane )?
Reply
chewy 7:50PM (7/17/2006)
I want to see the consumption. The boost is also very high, 12-20 psi.
Reply
David 8:12PM (7/17/2006)
#12, here is the Kj(energy) per gram of each:
Hydrogen gas (H2) 143
Methane gas (CH4) 56
Petrol (octane, C8H18) 48
Coal (carbon, C) 33
Ethanol (C2H5OH) 30
The reason why it's output is so low could be for many reasons, fuel efficency, the cooling issues (hydrogen burns MUCH hotter than petrol), or simply going into the engine design feet first. Why try to push the limits when the fuel is still semi-new when it comes to being used in ICE's
Reply
chewy 8:22PM (7/17/2006)
David
Hydrogen has the most energy, but it also weighs the lest per liter. Also, I meant that the boost is 18-20 psi. If this was a gas engine with that much boost it would easily make 500-600 hp.
Reply
Charles S 8:32PM (7/17/2006)
"It may not be super efficent, but it's a lot easier to impliment than replacing ALL the vehicles out there with fuel cell cars, EV's, etc."
I would just like to add a little caveat.
I would agree that Hydrogen ICE would be easier than Fuel-cell, but again, it's mainly true for development and convertion costs. The challenges to the supply and storage of hydrogen still remains.
For EVs, the electrical infrastructure requires very little in modification, so in a sense, it can also be "easy" to implement an EV shuttle system. It really just depends on budget, distance, fueling, etc. to decide which system would be more suitable.
Reply
David 9:55PM (7/17/2006)
Chewy, no doubt a gasoline engine would produce a lot more. Hydrogen's biggest problem is definitely it's density and presents problems with sufficent storage, however, there have been some good advancements with hydride metals.
16. I was meaning that I can take my toyota tacoma and modify it to run off of hydrogen or ethanol (another topic ALL together) much easier than I could retrofit a hydrogen fuel cell or EV system, all for a lot less than what a new vehicle would cost.
What I'm saying is that it's a great alternative for people that simply can't justify spending at least 20k for a new EV, fuel cell, hydrogen ICE vehicle. Spending 10k, if not less, could be more "reachable" by the average joe to retrofit their petrol ICE to hydrogen.
Reply
Dr. Sphincter 10:25PM (7/17/2006)
Hydrogen is pretty-much a pipe-dream. No matter how you use it, generating it is horrendously inefficient. If the environmentalists understood this, they would shun hydrogen with a colder shoulder than they give to petroleum. What appears to attract them is the zero emissions, though that is *only* at the point where it is burned.
Hydrogen also has a storage problem far worse than even electric cars. Every scheme tried so far involves canisters of ultra-high pressure hydrogen, and the range is still only on par with a modest EV. You'll notice the article makes no mention of range or hydrogen capacity. There is a reason for that and it's not good.
I think spending auto maker and goverment focus on H2 vehicles is simply pandering to voters who don't know any better. I think the money and effort is far better spent on hybrids, butanol, and pure EV's. Hell, it'd even be better spent on finding new petroleum reserves and refining methods!
Reply
eric 12:28AM (7/18/2006)
The lack of power does not come out of left field. You think Ford engineers suck? You don't that understand hundreds of people just like you (but smarter) worked on this for years. GM's H2 Hummer displaces >6L yet only has ~200Hp as well.
Reply