Originally published December 7 2005
California professors test drive hydrogen fuel cell car that gives off water vapor
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A group of UCLA professors drove a new hydrogen fuel cell car from UCLA to California State University in Northridge, to demonstrate the vehicle's efficiency and its clean emission of water vapor.
A group of UCLA professors demonstrated a new hydrogen fuel cell car Thursday afternoon by driving it from UCLA to California State University, Northridge.
Showcasing a new DaimlerChrysler F-Cell hydrogen car, chemical and biomolecular engineering Chair Vasilious Manousiouthakis said that the only by-product produced by hydrogen-powered cars is water vapor, which, if unmixed with other impurities, may be clean enough to drink.
Hydrogen cars have been limited in attaining popularity due to production and fuel costs, and research was being done to help make both the cars and hydrogen cheaper, Manousiouthakis said.
Chemical engineering Professor William Van Vorst said the vehicle he and his colleagues were riding in amounted to over $1 million once research funding was factored in, but future hydrogen cars would become rapidly cheaper as production increased.
Professor Vasilios Manousiouthakis showcases the DaimlerChrysler F-Cell hydrogen car, which he developed along with several other UCLA scientists.Van Vorst said that as the technology becomes better developed, more efficient designs may be created, and eventually the hydrogen car may be affordable to the general public.
Comparing the current situation of hydrogen cars to the history of computers, Manousiouthakis said that though computers had once been far too expensive for anyone but corporations to own, they have now become cheaper, so much so that they are everywhere.
Manousiouthakis and Van Vorst helped form the Hydrogen Engineering Research Consortium at UCLA, which aims to develop hydrogen as a common source of energy for a wide range of products.
Manousiouthakis named HERC after Hercules, the Greek legend who attempted to cleanse the Stables of Augeas by running a river through them.
The hydrogen fuel cell car runs like a typical compact car, and the only difference when starting the vehicle is a 20-second wait as the fuel cell warms up, said Ben Davis, a chemical engineering graduate student working under Manousiouthakis.
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