<Fierce pride - yes it works! (or, first ever bank-financed offshore wind farm inaugurated!) The Oil Drum DrumBeat: June 7, 2008>
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456 comments on DrumBeat: June 6, 2008

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dtbks on June 6, 2008 - 9:20am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

Toyota rolls out 'greener' hybrid car

Toyota has developed a new fuel cell hybrid, a green car powered by hydrogen and electricity, that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up, the automaker said Friday.

Sounds great, and then comes the choicest bit of reporting I've seen in a while...

The FCHV-adv from the world's second biggest automaker also comes with an electric motor and works as a hybrid by switching between that motor and the hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Toyota's Prius hybrid switches between an electric motor and a standard gasoline engine.

Uh, so tell me, how does the fuel cell drive the vehicle sans electric motor? ROFL.

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phreephallin on June 6, 2008 - 9:53am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Uh, so tell me, how does the fuel cell drive the vehicle sans electric motor?

From the hydrogen in the tank?

Fuel cell vehicles produce no pollution by running on the power of the chemical reaction when hydrogen stored in a tank combines with oxygen in the air to produce water.

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dtbks on June 6, 2008 - 10:06am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I feel like the ignorant one now, I thought people generally knew what a fuel cell was. My bad. (No seriously, I'm not being ironic or snarky as I was in my original post.) From the Wikipedia entry on fuel cells:

A fuel cell is an electrochemical conversion device. It produces electricity from various external quantities of fuel (on the anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side). These react in the presence of an electrolyte. Generally, the reactants flow in and reaction products flow out while the electrolyte remains in the cell. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the necessary flows are maintained.

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phreephallin on June 6, 2008 - 10:37am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I put my foot in mouth all of the time. Once you get used to the taste of gritty rubber, it's not so bad :-)

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456 comments on DrumBeat: June 6, 2008

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