http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...apan-Mazda.php
Quote:
Mazda unveils hydrogen hybrid with rotary engine
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
YOKOHAMA, Japan: Mazda unveiled a new kind of hybrid vehicle on Tuesday that runs on hydrogen fuel powering an electric motor. The Japanese automaker said it will be available for leasing in Japan next year.
The Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid, shown to reporters ahead of its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, operates on a rotary engine, which has a reputation for being quiet because it doesn't have pistons like standard engines.
. . .
Mazda officials said the latest hydrogen hybrid is an improvement over its previous hydrogen vehicle, leased since 2006, extending its run on a full tank of hydrogen from 100 kilometers (62 miles) to 200 kilometers (124 miles).
. . .
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I've been looking at the problem of ICE warm-up when it hit me that hydrogen makes a lot of sense during warm-up. The excellent combustion characteristics of hydrogen is exactly what the engine needs in the first five minutes.
Hydrogen has a wide combustion range ratio so evaporation temperature becomes a mute point. It would also eliminate any hydrocarbon by-products during warm-up. Furthermore, not much would be needed during the warm-up so home generation would be practical. (
LATE THOUGHT: hydrogen burns to make water and that might short the sparkplugs in extremely cold weather during the first start. To some extent, CO(2) avoids combustion chamber condensation.)
An acceptable substitute would be methane, again readily available in natural gas homes. We don't need it for the whole trip, just long enough to get through warm-up. The only challenge with methane are silicones but if used just for warm-up, they may not be a significant problem. Then the ICE can switch to ordinary gas or liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
Bob Wilson