When cars burn gasoline, they would ideally burn it perfectly and create nothing but carbon dioxide and water in their exhaust. Unfortunately, the internal combustion engine is not perfect. In the process of burning the gasoline, it also produces; Carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas , Nitrogen oxides, the main source of urban smog , unburned hydrocarbons, the main source of urban ozone . Catalytic converters eliminate much of this pollution, but they aren't perfect either. Air pollution from cars is a real problem in big cities.

Carbon is also a problem. When Carbon burns, it turns into a lot of carbon dioxide gas. Gasoline is mostly carbon by weight, so a gallon of gas might release 5 to 6 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere. The U.S. is releasing roughly 2 billion pounds of carbon into th

BMW is committing a lot of engineering resources to develop Hydrogen cars. "Hydrogen's possibilities also pose a sort of "chicken and egg" quandary for the company.

Years of promoting mass transit have not ended love affairs with the car in any industrialized country. So the mind-set now in some transportation circles and city governments is to at least get drivers into low or non-polluting vehicles (Walton 4). Energy companies, auto companies, and governments need to work together to make hydrogen powered cars a reality.

There are two types of engines in prototype hydrogen cars, fuel cell and conventional internal combustion. A fuel cell basically performs electrolysis in reverse, if hydrogen and oxygen are combined to make water, electricity is released . Hydrogen fuel goes into one end of the cell, then it platinum plate. "The platinum acts as a catalyst that helps break down hydrogen atoms into positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons (Jaffe 3)."

decrease in pollution will be worth it. Hydrogen is the most efficient and readily available alternate energy source on the planet.

Ford is going a different route than BMW, their fleet of Hydrogen cars are powered by fuel cells not combustion engines. These Ford Focuses have also been in Europe, The head of the European Union's energy and transport policy, EU Commissioner Loyola de Palacio drove one of these cars during a press conference announcing the European Union's support of alternately powered cars (Reuters 1). "Developing the use of hydrogen as a fuel would allow us to reduce road transport's impact on air quality and help reduce our reliance on oil products," de Palacio told the conference.

spacecraft. They were standard, but very expensive. The NASA cells used platinum, an expensive metal called niobium, and a special electrolyte developed by the DuPont Chemical Corporation, called Nafion (Jaffe 3). The main problem with fuel cells in automobiles is cost. Many expensive materials are required to manufacture fuel cells, but prices are slowly going down. "For example, the amount of platinum needed for a fuel cell large enough to power an auto has been dramatically reduced, dropping costs from $30,000 to $500 (Jaffe 3)." In place of gold-plated niobium a carbon graphite material can be substituted. "The electrolyte, however, still remains a problem. Nafion, the electrolyte made by DuPont, costs about $80 a square foot. It needs to be down at $5 to $10 to be economical (Jaffe 4)."

speed is 140 miles per hour (Walton 4). "Crucial for the foreseeable future, the cars can run on either liquefied hydrogen or gasoline (Walton 4)." BMW has 15 of the 750hL sedans participating in its Clean Energy road show. Combined, the cars have traveled more than 63,000 miles. But with just one place to "fill up," hydrogen cars are now practical only in and around Bavaria, near the Munich filling station, they are only practical in the 217.5 mile radius. "The hydrogen sedans are not on the market yet, but BMW is already considering ways to broaden their sales possibilities. One of the company's goals is a hydrogen filling station in every European capital by 2005 (Walton 5). "

There are two possible sources for the hydrogen. Electrolysis of water; Using electricity, it is

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Approximate Word count = 2212
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)