Re: The Future of Cars, Assured-Running on Hydrogen

Posted by Dale on Jan 19, 2002 at 11:10
162.arc1.il-decatur1.fgi.net (204.212.222.70)

Re: The Future of Cars, Assured-Running on Hydrogen (Mike Kremer)

Mike, Mike, Mike.... (sigh) You continue to make such optimistic statements without regard to the laws of physics. The heat of combustion of hydrogen is 326 BTU/SCF. For gasoline the number is 950,000 BTU/SCF. A 20 gallon tank of gasoline is about 2.7 cubic feet and contains 2.5 x10^6 BTU. So, if we compress hydrogen to 40PSI and expect to get the same 2.5 million BTU, we need a tank of about 2,900 cubic feet. Assuming a roof space of 5 feet by 5 feet the tank would only need to be as tall as a 10 story building. We would need to spend a rather large sum on raising underpass heights. OR we could make all cars into large trucks. A 40 foot long tank that was 8 feet wide would only need to be 9 feet high. About the size of the box on a US semi. OR we could compress the hydrogen to about 45,000 PSI to get back to the energy of a tank of gasoline in the same volume.

I exchanged a mile for a foot and you were off by 3 orders of magnitude. I guess we’re even? :)

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