Would You Feel Safe in a Hydrogen Car?
Wednesday December 20, 2006
Our recent article about the 2007 BMW Hydrogen 7 car got me thinking about hydrogen and how it’s perceived by the general public. In fact, a friend of mine read the article and then asked me if this is the “same kind of hydrogen as they used in the Hindenburg.”
I told him that there is actually only one kind of hydrogen, so yes, it is one and the same. But his reason for asking the question—more than the nature of the question—got me thinking. Hydrogen, Hindenburg, explosions, dangers, safety . . . and this article, How Safe is Hydrogen, is the answer.
But really, we’re curious, would you drive a hydrogen-powered car? Would you feel safe? Let us know what you think and how you feel about it. After reading our How Safe is Hydrogen article, do you feel more confident? More skeptical? Neutral? Click the comments link below and let your voice be heard. --Scott
I told him that there is actually only one kind of hydrogen, so yes, it is one and the same. But his reason for asking the question—more than the nature of the question—got me thinking. Hydrogen, Hindenburg, explosions, dangers, safety . . . and this article, How Safe is Hydrogen, is the answer.
But really, we’re curious, would you drive a hydrogen-powered car? Would you feel safe? Let us know what you think and how you feel about it. After reading our How Safe is Hydrogen article, do you feel more confident? More skeptical? Neutral? Click the comments link below and let your voice be heard. --Scott
Comments
The first time I reviewed a gas-fueled car (as in fuel in a gas form, not gasoline) — in my case, a CNG-powered Civic GX — I had similar concerns. And yes - I brought up the Hindenberg. The PR guy at Honda explained what really happened in the case of the Hindenberg, that were it not for the burning dope on the skin, the fuel would have flashed. On CNG-powered cars, the tanks are made to vent the fuel well below the ignition temperature of the fuel — and the fuel, of course, is lighter than air. So by the time a fire gets hot enough to burn the CNG, there will be no fuel left to burn. Compare that to gasoline, or more specifically gasoline fumes, which pool on the ground, where the fire is. So in my opinion, lighter-than-air fuels such as hydrogen and gasoline are actually safer than gasoline.
OK, think Challenger disaster. It’s the container that bothers me. In a gasoline powered car the fuel tank is under low pressure. It can be made to survive many types of accidents, by carefully placing the tank and by using materials that deform but do not rupture. Hydrogen tanks will have to be high pressure tanks, that will be strong as well as heavy. However, I don’t think it will be possible to design a tank that would be rupture proof. Since sparks could be easily found in a typical accident scenario, the risk of explosion would be high if the tank ruptures.
Joe,
You bring up a valid point. Storage tank integrity is an area of concern. On-board storage tanks do undergo very stringent testing during design and periodic inspection while in use in order to circumvent potential problems. And, promising developments in metal hydrides, carbon nanotubes and glass microspheres should help further alleviate some of the problems associated with pressure tank storage. Thanks for your comments.
–Scott Gable
I’ve driven 10 hydrogen cars this year including the BMW Hydrogen 7 and yes, I’ve felt safe in each one. The BMW Hydrogen 7 uses liquid hydrogen so it’s not the same as the Hindenburg or most fuel cell cars, which use compressed hydrogen gas.
There are a lot of safety measures in place when designing the tanks and since the car manufacturers are aware of the public’s concern, extra safety precautions are taken. Compressed and liquid hydrogen cars are not the only options, however. There are now a couple of manufacturers who are developing hydrogen-on-demand systems, which either electrolyze water as needed or release hydrogen from a chemical compound as needed to power the vehicle. These systems would be even safer.
My major concern would not be explosion.Many times on the highway,the only thing that took us out of harms way was horsepower.There have been large chunks of tire coming at us,people crossing the median,etc.Can these vehicles provide the power required for rapid acceleration?
Kevin is right in saying that other systems for providing hydrogen availability are in development. It can be gleaned from on-board liquid fuels that are much more energy dense (though not necessarily alternative or renewable),or extracted from the metal hydrides or glass microspheres as I stated above.
And to answer your question Joe– The BMW Hydrogen 7 with its bi-fuel gasoline/hydrogen engine produces 260 horsepower and 287 lb-ft of torque on either fuel. That’s certainly not eye ball flattening, but I think it would get you out of harms way in a hurry.
I think the important thing to keep in mind is that this technology (as far as motor transportation goes) is still quite new. The more of these cars that are built and driven, the better and safer they’ll become.
Thanks Kevin and Joe T. for your comments.
–Scott Gable
I think the important thing to remember is that gaseous-fuel storage isn’t new. Here in Los Angeles, most of the buses are run on CNG. Don’t know if this statistic is still true - I imagine it is - but at the time of my Civic GX lecture, there had been no vehicle-related deaths that could directly attributed to the CNG fuel system. Torture-testing the tanks is part of the design process.
I live in MI where we have 9 months of ice and snow and 3 months of tough sledding! Can I feel safe driving down the road in the company of a dozen hydrogen vehicles making moisture by combining hydrogen and oxygen? I don’t think so! Maybe out in lala land by the sea but not in cold weather Midland states. I have asked about this to people manning the booths at the Detroit Auto Show and they walk away not answering! Any reasons WHY moisture isn’t going to form causing icy roadways?
Bill,
Good comment about the moisture and cold climates. I think that the emitted moisture from burned hydrogen is, in most cases, in the form of vapor that dissipates as it rises up through the air. I would imagine that under certain atmospheric conditions it could and would condense back into liquid and drop back to the ground and then freeze on surfaces, including roadways. Of course, until there are literally dozens upon dozens of hydrogen cars dumping this vapor into the air, no one will really know for sure. And I wonder how much of the moisture that is present in the exhaust of petroleum powered cars condenses back to the road surface and freezes. I do see quite often on cold mornings here on the East coast that tell tale drip of water (laced with countless carcinogens) dripping from the tips of tailpipes.
Not sure that I would be overly worried. I mean, lets see, you would have the hydrogen in the tank when you bought the car and then it would run out. Since there are no realistic plans being presented for refueling stations for hydrogen cars… what’s to worry about?
i saw a video about the hindenburg disaster and how hydrogen was falseley blamed and i was right away intruiged i gave a speech to my sevench grade class about hydrogen and how it is not as bad as many people think this is very interesting i would defenitely fill my car with hydrogen
Thanks for the comments Dylan. I agree with you, hydrogen is not as bad as most people seem to think. I’m glad that you are interested in hydrogen safety and that you gave a speech about it. Good Job!
Scott - alternative fuels guide
I certainly won’t be one of the first to run out and get one. After the engineers have learned by sad experience that a certain design has flaws, maybe I’d consider it, but the idea of a hydrogen tank under my car doesn’t seem right. Just remember, the engineers of the Hindenburg were intelligent people and also thought they had tamed hydrogen.
Bill C of MI says: “I live in MI where we have 9 months of ice and snow and 3 months of tough sledding! Can I feel safe driving down the road in the company of a dozen hydrogen vehicles making moisture by combining hydrogen and oxygen?(…)Any reasons WHY moisture isn’t going to form causing icy roadways?”
Gasoline, diesel, CNG, hydrogen, propane, kerosene… all produce roughly the same amount of water vapor when burnt. Ever notice the steam in gasoline car exhausts?
Exhaust, being warm, rises.
Aero-space has used liquid hydrogen for years to fire and/or test rocket engines. When I was working at a test site for Rocketdyne, we were told not to go near the hydrogen tanks wearing nylon jackets because of friction. Od course those tanks contained 100’s of gallons of liquid hydrogen, but ignition of hydrogen and oxygen only needs a small spark or to be passed over platinum. In an accident, if the hydrogen tank is ruptured and a spark occurs, there might be sufficient power released to cause the vehicle to blow up or at least catch fire.