Fuel Cell Vehicle - Description and Purpose of Fuel Cells in Vehicles

Description and Purpose of Fuel Cells in Vehicles

Further information: Fuel cell

All fuel cells are made up of three parts: an electrolyte, an anode and a cathode. In principle, a hydrogen fuel cell functions like a battery, producing electricity, which can run an electric motor. Instead of requiring recharging, however, the fuel cell can be refilled with hydrogen. Different types of fuel cells include Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells, Direct Methanol Fuel Cells, Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells, Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, and Regenerative Fuel Cells.

As of 2009, motor vehicles used most of the petroleum consumed in the U.S. and produced over 60% of the carbon monoxide emissions and about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. In contrast, a vehicle fueled with pure hydrogen emits few pollutants, producing mainly water and heat, although the production of the hydrogen would create pollutants unless the hydrogen used in the fuel cell were produced using only renewable energy.

Read more about this topic:  Fuel Cell Vehicle

Famous quotes containing the words description, purpose, fuel, cells and/or vehicles:

    “It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place.”
    —Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)

    “But this fully answered John’s purpose toward Betty, for as she did not understand, she highly admired him; and he concluded by again repeating that learning was a fine thing for a man but ‘twas both useless and blameworthy for a woman either to write or read.”
    —Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)

    “Beware the/easy griefs, that fool and fuel nothing./It is too easy to cry “AFRIKA!”/and shock thy street,/and purse thy mouth,/and go home to thy “Gunsmoke,” to/thy “Gilligan’s Island” and the NFL.”
    —Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    “They are sworn enemies of lyric poetry.
    In prison they accompany the jailer,
    Enter cells to hear confessions.
    Their short-end comes down
    When you least expect it.”
    —Charles Simic (b. 1938)

    “Only by the supernatural is a man strong; nothing is so weak as an egotist. Nothing is mightier than we, when we are vehicles of a truth before which the state and the individual are alike ephemeral.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)