06 Jun 08 11:19
Engineers from the National Laboratory in California have created a hydrogen-fuelled version of the Toyota Prius that can run for 500 miles on the highway emitting only water vapour and minute amounts of nitrogen oxide.
The prototype has a reinforced carbon fibre, aluminium-lined tank holding up to 150 litres of liquid hydrogen or compressed hydrogen gas, reports the San Francisco Chronicle, which gives it a good range.
It can go 650 miles between refuelling if travelling at city speeds. The laboratory reckons that compressed hydrogen is the most efficiently-combusted at urban speeds and liquid hydrogen at highway speeds. The lab, which is sponsored by the federal Department of Energy, now plans to build more compact, more easily-installed hydrogen tanks for testing.
This isn't the first hydrogen-powered Prius - other prototypes have been built by companies including California's Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies and Energy Conversion Devices of Michigan, but the federal funding for this project suggests that the hydrogen economy is a stage closer to reality - in California, at least.
