Could the Internal Combustion Engine's days be numbered?

[Scarecrow]

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...en-fuel-cell-cars-hit-the-market-from-hyundai

I believe they have hydrogen pumps in LA already. The Honda Clarity(?) gets about the same mileage as gas, but drives around spitting out H20. The most abundant element in the universe still costs about the same per gallon though...?

 

[CarmelHP]

First production hydrogen fuel cell cars hit the market, from Hyundai | ExtremeTech

I believe they have hydrogen pumps in LA already. The Honda Clarity(?) gets about the same mileage as gas, but drives around spitting out H20. The most abundant element in the universe still costs about the same per gallon though...?

I'm not sure of the advantage gained from hydrogen power. They're either using hydrogen gained from water electrolysis with a high energy input and low production, or extracting it from methane. What's the relative efficiency of the two technologies with regard to methane.

Edited to add an interesting article: http://theenergycollective.com/charlesbarton/64177/what-are-problems-lftr-technology

 

[CathyInBlue]

The Redox unit doesn't use straight H2, though there's no reason it couldn't, I suppose. By using petrochemicals, an automobile equipped with one of these units to drive brushless DC or synchronous AC drive motors, the vehicle gains the ability to fuel up at all of the same fueling stations as traditional gasoline/diesel vehicles, whereas a straight up hydrogen fuel cell vehicle requires specialized infrastructure, as mentioned. The problem with so-called "solid oxide" fuel cells that was take straight petrochemicals is that they have a lower power density than H2 fuel cells and operate at a higher temperatures in order to liberate the H2 from the petrochemicals. The gag with Redox's tech is that they've gotten the power densities up to greater than that of a gasoline engine, while lowering the operating temperatures (apparently 300°C, which is just less than 600°F), which makes it superior to all other solid oxide fuel cells and makes it possible to engineer the fuel cell without relying on exotic alloys/materials/processes.

I would like to see this tech advance to the point that an advanced home hobby machinist could manufacture them on ordinary machine tools from common materials and easily replicated processes.