Hydrogen ICE Prius hybrid leads the way in Michigan

One truth about the hydrogen economy (other than that it's constantly 10-20 years away) is that no one really knows what it's going to look like. All of the technology involved (hydrogen production, fuel cells, etc.) is constantly being revamped and further developed. An article earlier this week from the Oakland Press does a good job of coving a lot of the issues, but the fulcrum of the story is a modified Prius hybrid, which Sam wrote about a few weeks ago. The Prius was changed by Energy Conversion Devices Inc. of Rochester Hills, Michigan and uses a new low-pressure hydrogen fuel tank and a hydrogen internal combustion engine. Even though writer Bob Gross uses this Prius as the entry and exit points of the article, there are not a lot of technical explanation of the tank and hydrogen ICE. I went hunting for more info on the ECD website, and found a video (scroll down a bit) of the hydrogen ICE Prius from 2003. Not much, but it's something.

Aside from the Prius, Gross talks about green ways to produce hydrogen (photovoltaic material on top of service stations that can produce electricity and then hydrogen through electrolysis. Overall, the sources in the story say we're a lot closer than 10-20 years away from the full-on hydrogen economy, and they're working to make it happen.

[Source: The Oakland Press / Bob Gross]