New technique creates cheap, abundant hydrogen: report

Well the new technologies they are working on actually don't require hydrogen storage. The hydrogen is actually created and immediately used by the engine. Electrolosis actually is performed while your car is running. Therefore, all you need to store in your car is water. This technology shows promise, and apparently GM is first in line to license the technology.

Yep it's described in this article:

Basically it uses a battery, solar panels and some carbon inserts as catalysts for the reaction. An electric impulse is sent through the water causing it to bubble with hydrogen gas. I'm still not totally clear on the details myself but it sounds promising. Check it out.

The reaction rate is the key. I will check it out but I am skeptical that the reaction rate is high enough in real time to run a car. It would be great for hydrogen filling stations though.

Hydrogen is actually safer than gasoline.

You are right, hydrogen gas is much more explosive than gasoline.

The reaction rate is the key. I will check it out but I am skeptical that the reaction rate is high enough in real time to run a car. It would be great for hydrogen filling stations though.

It's all about using catalysts to enhance the rate of the reaction.

Because it is so light, hydrogen disperses and floats skyward when leaked — it won't pool or soak into clothing like gasoline, just waiting to ignite. (Spilled hydrogen won't soak into the earth and pollute ground water either, or cause an environmental disaster like the Exxon Valdez.)

But what if the hydrogen does somehow ignite in a car? Tests conducted at the College of Engineering at Miami University aimed to find this out. 3000 cubic feet per minute of hydrogen was leaked from a vehicle tank and set alight. Over the course of the burn, temperature sensors inside the vehicle did not measure an increase of more than 1 or 2 degrees centigrade anywhere inside the vehicle. The temperature of the surface of the outside of the vehicle did not climb above that of a vehicle sitting in the sunshine!

This might sound unintuitive. But when a carbon-based fuel like gasoline burns, glowing hot soot particles transfer the heat to its surroundings — potentially including you. But because hydrogen contains no carbon, it burns cleanly without a residue of hot soot, producing little radiant energy. This means that a victim would have to be practically in the flame in order to get burned.

Pressurized hydrogen tanks are made to withstand enormous impacts, and fail gracefully, if at all. Some fear that a hydrogen tank has the potential to explode, and that is possible. But these critics often overlook the greater explosive potential of the gas tanks in their very own cars.

http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid205.php

Combustion IS a chemical reaction.

Combustion IS a chemical reaction.

'course, so is rust. But ya gotta admit, that having something rusting near hydrogen is not likely to create a huge conflagration risk. . . which was the point of the discussion, I thought...

Dr. Know

In the broadest sense of the word yes but not really in day to day terms. Combustion happens at high temperatures, hundreds to thousands of degrees, while a fuel cell temperature is usually not more than about 90 degrees C (PEM cells). Another thing about hydrogen, it does not stay around. As the lightest gast, it tens to float away very quickly whereas gasoline's vaport tend to stick around.