Hydrogen Fuel for Motorcars

Hydrogen is a potential secondary energy carrier that meets the requirements for an energy source of the future. Its combustion does not produce carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide or hydrocarbons. The present review describes the most important technical questions relating to the mobile use of hydrogen. Besides the discussion of the three suitable technologies for storing hydrogen in a vehicle – gaseous hydrogen in pressure vessels, liquefied hydrogen in vacuum-insulated tanks, and chemically compounded hydrogen in metal hydride stores – the properties of a hydrogen engine with external and internal mixture formation are described and compared. Furthermore, the design of the hydrogen-powered vehicles as developed at Daimler-Benz is shown. The review closes with the discussion of basic conditions for a future introduction of hydrogen as a fuel.