How to Build Hydrogen Powered Cars

Running a vehicle on hydrogen has become popular lately due to increased interest in "green" alternatives where hydrogen is produced by converting electricity into chemical energy by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. Interest has also increased in alternatives to the unstable petroleum market and constant changes in market conditions.
This article is an introduction to building hydrogen powered cars.
This article is divided into two parts, starting with how to build a basic hydrogen powered model car (for conceptual illustration and hobby enthusiasts) and then addresses tips on building your own full-sized hydrogen powered vehicle in the second part. At the end is a link where you can find more information on converting a larger vehicle to run on hydrogen. Since there is a significant safety issue here, make sure to read and follow all safety precautions. On second thought, just let an expert do it because I am sure there are hidden dangers and issues that I probably haven't thought to address.

Things You'll Need

• Outlet plug and associated wire leads
• Bowl
• 2 Jars

Instructions

1. Before you make a hydrogen-powered model car, you need to know where you can get fuel. For full-sized cars, you buy it at the refueling station or get it delivered in canisters. For model cars, it is as simple as putting two non-corrosive wires into water so that the two ends are under two separate water-filled jars. These jars must be upside-down in a water-filled bowl. They are there to catch bubbles as they come up from the ends of your wires. If you use copper-containing wires, sad experience has taught me that you end up corroding your copper or other wire. This step is extremely dangerous, since touching either the wires or anything wet that touches the wires is the equivalent of being in a bathtub with a faulty lamp (which can kill you). As the cups fill with gas, you will notice that one of the cups is filling a lot faster than the other one. That is because you are, in effect, splitting the water molecules into their parts (hydrogen and oxygen). Since water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, it makes sense that one jar should be double the amount in the other jar. The jar with double the amount of the other jar has hydrogen in it. This hydrogen should be "wet" with water vapor but should still work for our purposes. Congratulations! You have just made a device for splitting water molecules called a hydrogen generator or water electrolysis apparatus. Some versions of this apparatus do not separate the hydrogen and the oxygen which is more simple and more dangerous since they help each other combust if ignited. In these devices, the wires may lead to a series of plates that are close together but are not touching. These plates increase the surface area of the electric current through the water to speed up the reaction that splits the water.

2. If the whole apparatus for generating hydrogen for the model car is in a sealed container, but you can put in a safety plug that is big enough to burst and release any pressure that can build up so that the jar doesn't explode with as much power. It is also important that the two wire leads not cause combustion in the container where the hydrogen is made, which is an ever present risk for several reasons. See the warnings (below) for further precautions. That being said, there are kits out there that make use of hydrogen on demand "fuel cells," but you must watch for the rust that can develop in any system that collects "wet" hydrogen containing water vapor as well as the risk of explosion if the gas pressure isn't just right or the pressure gets too high. These fuel cells are made of a pair of wires (as mentioned above) that are attached to either end of a series of plates that are spaced apart from each other and force the electricity to travel through the water. This water has an increased surface area that contacts the electrodes better and gets a higher capacity for generating the gases. There is no need to separate the hydrogen and the oxygen since the hydrogen needs oxygen in that quantity to combust again anyway. I have seen fuel cells used to power larger engines (like a weed-whacker motor, for example) which can then be used to power a go kart or a motorized scooter if hooked up to the fuel line and an adequate flow is created. This same principle is sometimes used in vehicles with special safety protocols.

3. In order to power a full-sized car from hydrogen, two major considerations must be met. The first consideration is that there needs to be measures to prevent rust from destroying the interior of the engine since the product of hydrogen combustion is water, which aids in rust formation. This can be done by altering the materials that your engine is made of or coating them with extra protection and replacing parts when they do start to rust out. The other consideration that needs to be met is that hydrogen production must be controlled by the demand for hydrogen in a safe and reliable way that can feed the engine as its requirements change. This can be done by controlling the production of the hydrogen gas by changing the amount of electricity sent through the hydrogen generator and the (non-metallic) pump that sends the gas through the fuel line. You may also need to alter the timing of the engine and do other things in consultation with a mechanic since the octane rating of hydrogen is different than gasoline. Don't forget to look at the links at the end of this article to learn more.

4. Make sure that your entire system is coated with rust-resistant materials or replaced with materials that are not affected by rust. Some sites suggest stainless steel exhaust systems and other engine parts. I think that this is fine as long as you make sure that if you use stainless steel, aluminum, etc, you protect these parts from magnesium chloride that is used to de-ice streets in the winter or is found in salty sea water. Ceramic is supposed to be very good for protecting parts from corrosion but may not fit well into tight spaces and has its own problems like brittleness, interference with tight tolerances in machine parts, and different wear for parts than found in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts. Don't forget that it also significantly increases the expense.

5. The overall concepts remain the same for every car, and the general principles are the same for any vehicle. Make sure that you consult the full plans listed in the resources below before attempting to do a conversion on a full-sized automobile or anything that you aren't willing to experiment too much with because of expense. Also, make sure that you consult and use a certified mechanic/mechanical engineer to in building any full sized hydrogen powered vehicle. It would also be a good idea to discuss your model with these experts since they would probably find it interesting and might even have some tips for you that could help. Enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• This article is for informational purposes only. Let the professionals who are aquainted with the risks do all the dangerous stuff!

• Read all instructions before proceding. This is not an exhaustive list of all precautions you should take and, since this is very dangerous, it should never be attempted by persons uninformed of the risks. Even making the model above is dangerous since it is running on an explosive gas. Again, this article is only to be used to explore the prospect of making a hydrogen powered vehicle and is for informational, theoretical purposes only. This article, though it sites other web pages, is not responsible for their content and cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage from attempting this activity or activities from the webpages sited by this article. In other words, read how to do this, but don't do it since it can be extremely dangerous to anyone, even experts. Make sure you aren't touching any of the water/wet surfaces at any time during this experiment and that no conductive surfaces are connecting you to the electricity. And by the way, don't let water conduct electricity where it shouldn't go.

Resources

• A hydrogen powered car that works and isn't very complicated.
• How to convert a full sized car to run on hydrogen.
• How to make the hydrogen generator (more details).
• A rated list of books about converting your car.
• Information about the topic of hydrogen fueled vehicles, including information that is biased both for and against hydrogen vehicles.