Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

[Gary]

This initial post is going to be a culmination of several posts of a thread I started on the Dodge truck forum:

Will This New Toyota Hydrogen Car Change the World?

If Toyota pulls this off, the decision for an efficient daily driver becomes a tossup between that and a Tesla.


My "mileage" are you referring to the vehicle's range on a full "charge" or the equivalent mileage per gallon? Refilling won't be too difficult. Telsa has engineered the Model S so that the battery pack can be swapped in less time than it takes to fill a conventional gasoline powered vehicle.

Tesla Model S - Battery Swap HD Official

I drove an electric car once, It was the most boring thing ever

And which electric car did you drive? Based on everything I've been reading, the Model S, and the soon to be released Model X, by Tesla, are pure adrenaline rushes.

I drove a little car the dealership uses as a shuttle to and from buildings and across the street. It was drivable but I would never WANT to drive it.

The problem with battery's is that they wear out, who knows how soon? Surely as the recharges start to pile up the less life, or range, it will have.

And then when the battery is dead you have a hefty replacement cost and terrible battery juices for the environment.

I don't think that battery powered cars will be the future unless battery technology jumps rapidly in the near future, increasing the longevity of the battery. As it is I think they have batteries providing the range but the battery itself downs last long enough.

Do some reading on what Tesla has been doing with battery technology. The company applied for additional patents earlier this year.

Hydrogen Cars F-these new vehicles. Yeah, even coming from me and the stuff I work on. I'd rather strap one of the solid rocket motors here on to a car b/c I know how it's gonna operate!!

Yes, I will admit it will be interesting to see how the Toyota's rendition of fuel cells rolls out. It's expected to be better than it's predecessors....which was by a GM company right? (I don't recall) The question is how will Toyota quell the public perception of Hydrogen sitting under your booty. I mean...we still have people thinking that nuclear power plants are just so bad....

There are different approaches to hydrogen fuel cells. One converts a small amount of fuel to hydrogen "on the fly", while another uses a storage tank.

Are you aware of a fuel cell design in which the chassis platform is constructed similar to a honeycomb? It is reported to be so safe that it cannot rupture, and in the event of a collision any force strong enough to break it will release minimal amounts of hydrogen. The cars and trucks you drive today are at a greater risk of starting a fire. The reason no one fears this is because these vehicles have been around for all of our lives.

Current electric cars

-- really dislike them. Neighbor has a Volt, coworker has a smart car, other coworkers with volts and similar. All nice and dandy that the focus is on the clean exhaust emissions. Forget about what happens in terms of waste for these battery packs? yeah...we'll figure out when we get there like with nuclear waste, which has gone the way of storage pools and/or burying in various mountainous locations.

Battery packs are not like nuclear waste -- that's an apples to bowling balls comparison. The battery packs will be sent to reclamation facilities.

Too Quiet

These electric cars suck donky in the realm of where kids play. Why? B/c you can't hear them! It can be very unexpected. This is my #1 gripe.

These same kids don't hear today's cars coming down the street. Sorry, but that argument doesn't hold water.

Driving Habits

These cars also have meters that tell them how their driving with relationship b/t current speed and range. It's already bad enough that people make the passing lane a Sunday stroll, now you got it even worse with these cars doing the same thing!

That makes no sense.

Charging

Apparently people with these cars, or the ones I've spoken to, don't think too much the impact of charging away from home either. They end up asking people to plug in at their house to charge up. Initially it's not really thought of as an issue b/c it's electricity. You can't see it to perceive it's actual cost. So now the car owner just bumped some gas money off their friend. Various stores now have charging stations placed nearest the doors. You do need a "Charge Card" LOL. Curious to know the rates since it's a prepaid card as far as I know. People at work here constantly have the 2 slots in use all the damn day. I will find out how that is working on payment/use/rotation/etc.

That is my input....thus far.

Tesla has a supercharger network built along the west coast, from San Diego all the way to Seattle. In two years, there will be enough charging stations and battery replacement stations for someone to drive across the country.

Either way, I stated that these would be for daily driving/commuter driving, which is what these vehicles are suited to do.

Tesla has indeed made great strides.

Everyone is watching how the recent battery fires are going to resolve. It's not unlike the new Boeing airplanes also didn't run into high technology battery problems that grounded the fleet earlier this year.

Patents are good, experimental data is better, and safety remains the final gate.

The three Teslas that caught fire did so only due to striking road debris with enough force that would have demolished a conventional vehicle. In the Washington and Tennessee events, the vehicle warned the driver of a problem and to pull over immediately.

There is nothing in common as to the reason why the Tesla had battery fires with the Boeing.


Investigation reveals cause of battery fire on Boeing 787 Dreamliner

[Gary]

And this discussion continued:

From a Model S owner in Tennessee

Scientists Use a Mutated Virus to Build a Better Battery

Better batteries through biology

For those who (mistakenly) think a hydrogen powered vehicle is a bomb on wheels, take a moment to read this article: Toyota’s Hydrogen vs. Tesla’s Batteries: Which Car Will Win?

Erm, That doesn't really work. Back in the 20's, 1 barrel of oil was consumed in order to produce 10 barrels. Today, 1 barrel produces only 5. There is still a net energy gain from the process. If there weren't, then using petroleum products would actually be costing us more energy than it was producing, and that certainly wouldn't last long, before we ran out of energy. What the ratio reaches 1 to 1, oil will no longer be a viable source of energy.

Hmmm.
Low energy return on investment (EROI) need not limit oil sands extraction

Dangerous Times As Energy Sources Get Costlier To Extract

Rather, what really matters is the cost of resources, in terms of resources required, including energy resources, to keep producing oil. On that front, the U.S. is losing ground at an alarming pace.
Simply put, it takes energy to get energy. In today’s world, it takes rising amounts of energy to get all the new energy sources out of the ground and ready to use.
The critical concept is “energy return on investment,” or EROI. This means the amount of energy obtained from each unit of energy invested. When oil first began to flow, its EROI was around 100, according to State University of New York professor Charles Hall. Drillers would use one barrel to extract 100 barrels from the ground. As more wells were drilled and producers added infrastructure, the EROI ratio dropped. New wells over time grew less productive, further decreasing EROI. In the early 1950s the EROI associated with refined oil products like gasoline was about 20. Today, it takes about one barrel of conventional U.S. oil to produce the equivalent of nine barrels, or 378 gallons of gasoline.
Meanwhile, the EROI for nonconventional oil, that is, oil produced from shale and tar sands, stands even lower, at about four. For every barrel of oil used to drill, producers obtain only four barrels of nonconventional oil, or 168 gallons of gasoline.

Researchers invent self-healing battery electrode

According to a news release from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, researchers have invented the first self-healing battery electrode. This invention could lead to the next generation of lithium ion batteries for electric cars, cell phones and a variety of other electric devices. A stretchy polymer covers the electrode, binds it together and automatically heals small cracks that form during battery use.
“Self-healing is very important for the survival and long lifetimes of animals and plants,” noted principal author Chao Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, in a statement. “We want to incorporate this feature into lithium ion batteries so they will have a long lifetime as well.”
For the battery project Chao added small nanoparticles of carbon to the polymer so it would conduct electricity.
“We found that silicon electrodes lasted 10 times longer when coated with the self-healing polymer, which repaired any cracks within just a few hours,” posited Stanford Professor Zhenan Bao.
“Their capacity for storing energy is in the practical range now, but we would certainly like to push that,” noted Yi Cui, an associate professor at SLAC and Stanford.
Amazingly, the electrodes performed admirably for approximately 100 charge-discharge cycles without significantly being deprived of their energy storage capacity.
“That’s still quite a way from the goal of about 500 cycles for cell phones and 3,000 cycles for an electric vehicle,” Cui added, “but the promise is there, and from all our data it looks like it’s working.”
Researchers are working hard to discover methods of keeping more energy in the negative electrodes of lithium ion batteries to obtain higher performance while lowering weight. Silicon is a great electrode material; it has a high capacity for pulling in lithium ions from the battery fluid during charging and then releasing them when the battery begins to operate.
Unfortunately, silicon electrodes grow to three times normal size and shrink back down again each time the battery charges and discharges, and, as a result, the material starts to crack and fall apart.
To create the self-healing coating, researchers weakened some of the chemical bonds within polymers. The new material breaks easily, but the broken ends are chemically attracted to each other and rapidly link up again.
The self-healing electrode is the first solution to offer a practical path forward for the commercial production of silicon electrodes.
The study’s findings are described in greater detail in the journal Nature Chemistry.

Hyundai To Sell Hydrogen Cars In 2014

For years, the joke in the auto industry was that a mass-produced car that runs on hydrogen was always a decade away.

That will change next year when Hyundai starts selling a Tucson SUV powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It will be the first mass-market vehicle of its type to be sold or leased in the U.S.

“These things are now ready for prime time,” John Krafcik, Hyundai’s North American CEO, said last week. His company plans to announce details of the new Tucson on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Even as the industry focused on battery-powered and hybrid cars, automakers such as Hyundai, Honda and Toyota kept up research on fuel cells. Now they appear to have conquered obstacles such as high costs, safety concerns and a lack of filling stations. These vehicles could help the companies meet stricter future fuel-economy standards.
Automakers have been dabbling in hydrogen-powered cars since the 1960s. General Motors announced a test fleet of hydrogen-powered Chevy Equinoxes in the mid-2000s, and Honda leased about two-dozen FCX Clarity models for $600 per month starting in 2005.

President George W. Bush allocated $1.2 billion for hydrogen research and said in his 2003 State of the Union address: “The first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen and pollution free.” But the program was largely scrapped by the Obama administration, which focused more on battery-powered vehicles.

Hyundai now is making Bush’s forecast come true, beating other auto companies to the mass market with Tucsons that have electric motors powered by a stack of hydrogen fuel cells. Hyundai plans to start selling the vehicles in Southern California and eventually spread to other areas as filling stations are built.

Hyundai says it has overcome safety and storage issues with a rear-mounted tank that has passed numerous crash tests without incident. As for filling stations, the California Air Resources Board says there currently are nine open to the public in the state. Legislators recently allocated about $200 million per year for 100 more, to be built by 2023.
Also at the Los Angeles show, Honda Motor Co. is scheduled to show off a fuel-cell concept vehicle, which it says hints at the aerodynamic design of the next generation fuel-cell vehicle to be launched in 2015. Further details weren’t available.

Toyota Motor Corp. is scheduled to unveil its own concept fuel-cell vehicle at this week’s Tokyo Motor Show. That one also is likely for distribution in the mass market in 2015.

General Motors continues work on its fuel-cell vehicles.
The largest U.S. automaker, which has spent a lot of time and resources on battery-powered cars such as the Chevrolet Volt, has no fuel-cell vehicles currently in its new product pipeline, spokesman Dan Flores said Monday. He said more work needs to be done on cost and infrastructure to make the cars viable.

Hyundai is expected to introduce prices and details of how its cars will be sold or leased at the Los Angeles show. Automakers usually offer leases when they put new technology on the market.

Hydrogen cars likely will help automakers meet new goals from eight key states to put more zero-emissions cars on the road. The states, including California and New York, pledged late last month to work together to put 3.3 million battery-powered cars, plug-in hybrids and other clean-burning vehicles on the roads in those states by 2025. That’s more than 15 times as many zero-emission vehicles projected to be in use in the entire U.S. by 2015.

The other states in the pact are Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont. The eight states together represent about 23 percent of the U.S. auto market.

[Gary]

I will be curious to see how the power grid handles everybody plugging in there elec cars at once, then I want to see how much the power bill is for charging a car over night, then just where is all this power coming from. Then there is the added pollution from those power plants to make all this new needed power.

How do these cars/trucks handle cold weather? What will the range be when its cold out?

I am not bashing the idea but I sure do have serious Q's about the whole idea.

Tesla Model S - Cold Weather Climate Testing 2012 HD

Honda shows concept for next fuel-cell car

Honda today showed off a sleek concept for the design direction of its next hydrogen fuel-cell car, due in the U.S. and Japan in 2015.


Honda of America CEO Tetsuo Iwamura says the exotic-looking and aerodynamic FCEV Concept, making its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show "hints at Honda's future direction for fuel-cell vehicles. While this car is a concept, it points toward a very real future."


The FCEV, which seats five, is considerably more futuristic in look than Honda's original fuel-cell vehicle, the FCX introduced in 2002. Honda says FCEV also has a significantly updated powerplant that is 33% more compact than the fuel cell unit in its successor, the FCX Clarity launched in 2008, and puts out 66% more power at 100 kilowatts. And it says the new car will have a range of 300 miles on a fill-up of hydrogen.


A fuel cell car uses hydrogen to produce electricity. The only emission is water vapor.


The test fleet of original cars, a couple hundred, has been leased to individual retail customers and Honda has been collecting data on their performance and usage.


Honda continues to promote an infrastructure of hydrogen fueling stations that would support fuel-cell cars in wider use. And it has a deal announced last summer to work on fuel-cell technology in collaboration with General Motors, which was an early developer of the vehicles and has had its on test fleet of fuel cell-equipped Equinox SUVs.


How much does the FCEV say about the look of the coming real-world car? Before you say it's too exotic-looking, remember the Insight hybrid.

Honda Is Working On Hydrogen Technology That Will Generate Power Inside Your Car

Honda unveiled its latest Hydrogen Fuel Cell EV Concept at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show this week.

At the Los Angeles Auto Show this week, Honda unveiled the FCEV Concept, a futuristic-looking car it says "will feature the world's first application of a fuel-cell powertrain packaged completely in the engine room of the vehicle, allowing for efficiencies in cabin space."

Although fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are rare today, they may have what it takes to be very popular one day.
The benefits of FCEV

FCEVs run on hydrogen gas and oxygen, which an onboard fuel cell stack converts, via a chemical reaction , into electricity.

This version of the electric car offers the same performance and environmental benefits of battery-powered EVs (BEV), as well as the range of conventional cars, as it can be refueled on the go. What's more, t he electricity is generated in the car, so a major downside of BEVs — that the power stored in the battery runs out, often rather quickly — is not an issue.

With the proper infrastructure of hydrogen refueling stations (which could be incorporated into present gas stations), FCEVs would have the same "unlimited" range as cars with internal combustion engines.

That means no range anxiety and no long battery charging times, Jack Nerad, executive editorial director and market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, told Business Insider.

No carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere, no noise is made, and the motor delivers better torque than most engine-powered cars, which translates to great acceleration.

The only emission from FCEVs is water vapor, which is a greenhouse gas, but, Nerad says, "not generally regarded as bad as carbon dioxide."

But the technology is vastly underdeveloped and faces serious challenges that could keep it off the roads and out of your driveway for decades to come.
The problems with FCEV

The first hurdle is the actual production of hydrogen.

Pure hydrogen can be industrially derived, but it takes energy. If that energy does not come from renewable sources, then fuel-cell cars are not as clean as they seem.

Meanwhile, Jack Nerad of KBB said, "it's still easy to poke holes in the ground," to extract oil and natural gas. "It's cheap to do that, we know how to do that."

Another challenge is the lack of infrastructure. Gas stations need to invest in the ability to refuel hydrogen tanks before FCEVs become practical, and it's unlikely many will do that while there are so few customers on the road today.

"We're in a chicken-egg situation," according to Nerad.

Compounding the lack of infrastructure is the high cost of the technology. Fuel cells are "still very, very expensive," even compared to battery-powered EVs, Nerad said — and BEVs cost a lot more than internal combustion engine-powered cars.

The last major challenge is that few potential customers have any idea what FCEVs are. The Electric Drive Transportation Association promotes the technology as "part of a suite of electrification technologies," Cullen said, which includes improving awareness of their importance and existence.

For fuel-cell electrics, "we're right at the beginning of that process," she said.
The next step for FCEV

Although relatively few people are aware of fuel cell technology, there are FCEVs on the road today.

Many are parts of bus fleets in Europe, said Genevieve Cullen, vice-president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA).

For now, such "fleets are the optimal application" for FCEVs, Cullen told Business Insider. They follow set routes, so few refueling stations are required. The large number of vehicles creates the economies of scale that justify the cost of building those stations.

There are also well-known automakers working on the technology. Ford, Daimler AG (which owns Mercedes-Benz and Smart), and Renault-Nissan announced a partnership in January to speed up the development of commercially viable FCEVs with the jointly-created Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (AFCC).

Greg Frenette of the AFCC said the group is working towards serious, large-scale commercialization of a fuel-cell vehicle by 2017 or 2018, a timeline he called "cautious."

Aston Martin became the first automaker to put a hydrogen-powered car on the Nurburgring, the famed German circuit. The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S uses a V12 engine, not a fuel cell, and can also run on gasoline.

Honda is the furthest ahead: It actually made an FCEV, the FCX Clarity, available for lease in 2008, but the project did not lead to widespread sales.

In September, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito said they would introduce a fuel-cell electric vehicle to go on sale in 2015.

Still, many people close to the technology argue large-scale commercialization "might be decades away," Nerad told Business Insider.

Ford, Daimler AG, and Nissan partnered up on FCEVs as "a serious effort to cover themselves," Nerad said. It's a way to "at least keep their hand in the game," in case the technology goes mainstream.

For hydrogen-powered cars to become completely viable, the process of making hydrogen must become easier and cheaper, without commensurate gains for battery-powered electric cars. Until then, the FCEV may forever be just around the corner.

Short-cut to produce hydrogen seen as step to cleaner fuel


I found this on Toyota Global's website today. Looks like the car, that will be available in January, can achieve ~310 on a single fillup. Not bad.

Toyota Fuel Cell Technology Explained

Fuel Cell Technology Broken Down


Very cool.


Protean Electric rolls towards making in-wheel electric motors a reality

In 2012, Protean Electric—a Michigan-based company with $84 million in Chinese funding—announced it was reinventing the wheel, so to speak. The idea was to create in-wheel electric motors that would eliminate many traditional components—like axles—while freeing up the interior space normally occupied by the powertrain, allowing engineers more freedom in vehicular design.
It was a clever idea; one that required a willing OEM to help facilitate the concept. While Protean has created many development mules over the years as its technology evolves—like Brabus' hybrid-powered Mercedes and a Ford F-150 EV—an official partnership to bring its system to life has finally been announced:
Protean has inked a deal with FAW-Volkswagen, announcing plans to integrate its innovative in-wheel system into the brand's upcoming electric sedan.
FAW-VW, a Chinese automaker that's part-owned by Volkswagen Group, utilizes a previous-generation Jetta sedan as a base for its Bora sedan that serves its Chinese marketplace. The automaker sought an all-electric version of this car, and with its new partnership with Protean, it plans to incorporate an in-wheel motor into each one of the rear wheels, turning the front-wheel drive sedan into a rear-wheel drive electric vehicle.
Protean's system puts the stator—the stationary part of the electric motor—on the inside while the moving rotor sits on the outside and is bolted directly to the wheel hub. All the necessary electronics are housed within the wheel, so unlike all other electric cars, no separate unit located elsewhere within the car is required. The system could be added to all four wheels to make a vehicle all-wheel drive, with each motor costing $1,500. Protean claims its system is "the closest the industry may ever get to a 'bolt-on' electric drive system." Of course dealing with the unsprung mass will be a sizable challenge without a heavily revised suspension setup.
Other in-wheel systems exist, and the concept was born in 1900 with Ferdinand Porsche's Löhner-Porsche hybrid, but none have caught on because of various compromises to the car's suspension setup and the units' inherent size. Because of its "inside out" layout, Protean's motors are smaller, fit within the wheels, can easily be integrated into existing designs and house all the necessary electronics.
Each motor pushes 100-hp and features a monstrous 739 lb.-ft. of torque—a figure Protean claim to be the "highest torque density of any of today’s leading electric drive systems." With a weight of 75 lbs. per motor and a regenerative braking system that recovers 85-percent of kinetic energy, the whole unit fits within a conventional 18-inch wheel.
Initially, the Protean-powered Bora will be a demonstration vehicle set to hit public roads in 2014, with a full production Bora EV arriving in China a few years later. Protean Electric are in talks with other OEMs—including in the U.S.—about utilizing its technology, bringing the product to a worldwide audience. The success of the Bora EV will likely play a large role in convincing other automakers to add a touch of Protean to its fuel efficient diet.

Tellus AG was producing similar wheel driven technology in the early 80's for robotic vehicles....... Not fast, but efficient and durable.

The future is now, and I am hoping to own one of these vehicles before the close of the decade.

[Lupine]

The picture car is pretty nice looking. A little impractical where i live due to road conditions. I always thought an electric car would be great out where I live, particularly if I had a garage with solar and wind chargers (both of which we get in abundance here).

[RJDiogenes]

It's nice to know that these things are finally hitting street level, so to speak. That alone should drive technological development and make them improve quickly.

One thing I've never understood is the objection that they are too quiet. Just build them to make a noise if you have to.

[Lupine]

^They should make customizable sound apps. I'd have one that sounds like a TIE fighter.

[Gary]

There is too much noise pollution as it is, so I think people should exercise common sense, both as pedestrians and as drivers.

[RJDiogenes]

I like the idea of the customizable sound apps. I'd record myself making cool engine noise. "Vroom-Vroom-VROOM!"

[Gary]

I like the idea of the customizable sound apps. I'd record myself making cool engine noise. "Vroom-Vroom-VROOM!"

Goofball!

[Gary]

Toyota has high hopes for hydrogen car

Toyota's first hydrogen-powered car is still a year away from production, but its already predicting a hit.

“Fuel cell electric vehicles will be in our future sooner than many people believe, and in much greater numbers than anyone expected,” said Toyota senior vice president Bob Carter at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The car, which Toyota calls FCV for now, uses hydrogen as fuel for a battery and emits only water vapor as exhaust. Toyota said the car will go on sale in the U.S. in 2015. Rival automakers Hyundai and Honda have also said they'd start selling cars with that technology in the U.S. that year.

At the International CES, the technology industry's annual gadget show in Las Vegas, the Japanese automaker said it will focus on selling cars in California at first.

Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., said the U.S. branch of Toyota had recently increased its request for vehicles to sell in the U.S. market. He said that a 95 percent cut in production costs from the initial prototype would help Toyota make fuel cell cars that are "a reasonable price for a lot of people."

Toyota Motor Corp. has promised to sell its fuel cell cars for $50,000 to $100,000, aiming for the lower end of the range.

Toyota said the car will have a range of 300 miles, can accelerate from standstill to 60 miles per hour in 10 seconds, and can refuel its hydrogen tank in three to five minutes.

Working with researchers at the University of California, Irvine, Toyota said the first 10,000 vehicles can be supported with only 68 refueling stations from San Francisco to San Diego. It noted that California has approved $200 million to build about 20 fueling stations by 2015, 40 by 2016 and 100 by 2024.

"This infrastructure thing is going to happen," Carter said.

Carter said all the cars in California could be served with just 15 percent of the 10,000 gas stations in the state now if they were spaced correctly. Researchers estimated where likely FCV buyers would need hydrogen stations and planned to put them within six minutes of their home or work.

"We don't need a station on every corner," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

[RJDiogenes]

Goofball indeed.

I wonder how much I drive in an average week. I'll have to check my odometer. I have a feeling that 300 miles would last me about three months.

[Gary]

More on organic batteries: Organic battery hailed as cheap renewable energy solution

Harvard team uses material similar to molecules in rhubarb to store energy



A cheap rechargeable battery that harnesses energy by using the electrochemistry of organic molecules rather than metals is being touted by Harvard researchers as a breakthrough for renewable energy.

The Harvard team reports that the battery, which they say can be applied on a power-grid scale, uses naturally abundant and small organic compounds called quinones rather than electrocatalysts from costly precious metals such as platinum.

Quinones would be inexpensive to obtain and can be found in green plants or synthesized from crude oil. The battery designed by Harvard scientists and engineers used a quinone molecule that's almost identical to one that's found in rhubarb.

The technology is outlined in the Jan. 9 edition of the journal Nature.

Unlike solid-electrode batteries, flow batteries are recharged by two chemical components dissolved in fluids that are kept in separate tanks.
si-flow-battery-300.jpg


The battery could be used to store electricity generated from renewable, intermittent energy sources like wind and solar power.

The quinones in the Harvard team's battery are dissolved in water, which also prevents them from catching fire. These hydroquinones would perform a similar function to metal electrocatalysts such as platinum, because the molecules can store electrical energy efficiently.

10,000 quinone molecules screened

Flow batteries are well suited to storing large amounts of energy, but a major drawback to metal-based flow cells has been cost.

According to MIT Technology review, a conventional metal-reliant flow battery costs an estimated $700 per kilowatt-hour of storage capacity, whereas the Harvard team's metal-free technology would bring those costs down to $27 per kilowatt-hour.

Roy G. Gordon, one of the researchers who helped screen more than 10,000 quinone molecules to find the best candidate for the novel battery, said the introduction of the quinones to flow batteries could be a renewable-energy game-changer.

"The whole world of electricity storage has been using metal ions in various charge states, but there is a limited number that you can put into solution and use to store energy, and none of them can economically store massive amounts of renewable energy," Gordon said.

"With organic molecules, we introduce a vast new set of possibilities. Some of them will be terrible and some will be really good. With these quinones we have the first ones that look really good."

The metal vanadium is used in most commercially advanced flow batteries. The Harvard battery performs just as well, the team said.

Could reduce reliance on fossil fuels

Lead researcher Michael J. Aziz said the storage of intermittent forms of renewable energy such as wind or solar power could be more economical if organic flow batteries were used to provide back-up power when the wind stops blowing and the sun isn't shining.

"The intermittent renewables storage problem is the biggest barrier to getting most of our power from the sun and the wind," Aziz said.

"A safe and economical flow battery could play a huge role in our transition off fossil fuels to renewable electricity. I'm excited that we have a good shot at it."

A 2011 review from the American Chemical Society states that globally, the total electricity from wind power reached 74.3 gigawatts in 2006 and 94 gigawatts in 2007. By 2020, the World Energy Council predicts worldwide wind capacity could reach 474 gigawatts.

The U.S. target is to generate 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2020.

The researchers are working with a Connecticut-based company called Sustainable Innovations to create a portable, organic flow battery inside a unit about the size of a horse trailer.

The flow battery would be hooked to solar panels on the roof of a commercial building. The energy stored in the battery could power the building or be used whenever there's a need for it.

[RJDiogenes]

My first thought when I saw organic batteries was "hamsters!"

This all sounds very optimistic. If it's all true, we could be on the verge of hitting critical mass in terms of renewable and alternate energy resources.

[Gary]

A blurb Tesla e-mailed to Forum subscribers, today.

TESLA REVENUE EXPECTED TO EXCEED GUIDANCE BY 20% IN FOURTH QUARTER SALES DRIVEN BY SUPERLATIVE SAFETY RECORD AND EXCELLENT COLD WEATHER PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Tesla sales in the fourth quarter of 2013 were the highest in company history by a significant margin. With almost 6,900 vehicles sold and delivered, Tesla exceeded prior guidance by approximately 20%. A higher than expected number of cars was manufactured as a result of an excellent effort by the Tesla production team and key suppliers, particularly Panasonic. The two key drivers of demand were the superlative safety record of the Model S and great performance under extremely cold conditions.

Safety Record

Tesla remains the only manufacturer with a perfect safety record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries ever. Including the Roadster, Tesla vehicles have now been on the road for almost six years in 31 countries with almost 200 million miles driven to date. Despite dozens of high speed collisions, the driver and passengers have always been protected. This is Tesla’s proudest achievement. Independent testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) awarded the Tesla Model S a 5 star safety rating overall and in every subcategory without exception. Of all vehicles tested, including every major make and model approved for sale in the United States, the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants. While the Model S is a sedan, it also exceeded the safety score of all SUV’s and minivans.

Excellent Cold Weather Performance

Due to the precision of its electric powertrain, the Model S has outstanding traction control relative to the much higher latency and inertia of a gasoline powertrain. As a result, it is able to perform better on snow and ice than many all-wheel drive gasoline cars, as shown in this Tesla produced video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS9uDJGi52A

And many independent reviews and customer produced videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... ather&sm=3

Tesla’s highest sales per capita are in Norway and the individual customer who owns the most cars lives in Narvik, which is above the Arctic Circle.

[RJDiogenes]

Wow, that's an uncanny safety record. Good for them. They deserve their success.