Asian Car Manufacturers Explore Hydrogen Fuel Cells to Clean Up Vehicle Emissions
While Europe has taken a decisive stance on electric cars, Asian car manufacturers are still seeking alternatives to address the issue of hydrogen fuel for their vehicles. China, for instance, has yet to enter the market with a fully electric vehicle, but Japan is looking at different options. As a country, Japan is not only focusing on designing a red hydrogen refueling station network to serve its vehicles, but also transport, both for the future. Toyota, for instance, is determined to continue developing its hydrogen fuel system to make hydrogen a viable alternative to fossil fuels in sports utility vehicles. Honda has also signaled its intention to investigate this business, as Hyundai-Kia has announced they will be working on improving hydrogen production and facilitating transportation, with the goal of making hydrogen a cheaper alternative to electric or diesel vehicles.
Burning Hydrogen to Maintain Combustion
The Hyundai-Kia group, with Korea Institute Machinery Materials (KIMM) as its leading partners, is currently engaged in this project. The manufacturers are relying on the project's success and eagerly awaiting its results to assess its progress. In recent months, they have received encouraging news, according to GreenCarCongress, which reported on the progress.
The new engine operates with hydrogen injection directly into the combustion chamber, improving the efficiency of the blocks that were being tested. The new engine works with hydrogen in the state of gaseous pressure and is injected directly into the combustion chamber at a pressure of 30 bars, which improves the engine's overall efficiency. Additionally, a turbocompressor has been included to increase power and stabilize efficiency, regardless of the engine load.
So far, hydrogen has been injected into an engine chamber where it mixed with the air, which then went to the cylinder where the engine's work was produced. However, this process deprived the engine of the fuel it needed, reducing the engine's overall efficiency. According to their data, they have a motor that is as powerful as a gasoline engine but reduces CO2 emissions by 99% and particulate emissions by 90%, with a fuel efficiency of 40%. The NOx emissions produced are below 15 ppm and do not include a gas treatment system, which could potentially reduce harmful emissions even further.
Hydrogen as a Fuel Source
The European Union is expected to open the door to hydrogen fuel combustion engines by 2035. In the initial stages, it was required to sell cars with combustion engines that had "zero emissions," which impeded the sale of these vehicles. Finally, it was decided to allow the sale of vehicles with combustion engines that had "neutral carbon emissions." This means that, although the engine produces minimal CO2 emissions, these propulsion systems are considered "neutral carbon," as the CO2 produced during hydrogen production is offset by the CO2 savings from the vehicle.
However, the use of hydrogen for transportation, both for personal and commercial use, is still a work in progress. MAN has stated that hydrogen technology may not be viable in the near future. It is uncertain whether electric propulsion systems, which have their own drawbacks, will be a viable alternative to hydrogen. However, some manufacturers and institutions are already working on the development of hydrogen combustion engines.