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Fuel Cell Vehicle Example

How Does Toyota’s Fuel Cell Vehicle Work?

After over 20 years of meticulous testing and experimenting with design, Toyota has created Mirai, the world’s first mass-produced fuel-cell vehicle (FCV) expected to hit dealerships later on this year. It’s sleek, stylish, affordable, and, wait for it… environmentally sound. Actually the byproduct (H2O) is so pure that you can actually drink them if you really wanted to. Tests confirm that the water emitted from the tailpipe can contain fewer organic impurities than milk, but how does it all work? The process is surprisingly comprehensible, so let’s go through it!

1. After pumping the Hydrogen gas into the FCV, the gas travels to a Toyota-designed carbon-fiber fuel tank created to be lightweight, sturdy, and dependable.
2. The intake grills on the front of the vehicle will then deliver outside air to the fuel cell stack.
3. The Hydrogen travels from the tank to the stack. Both the Hydrogen and the Oxygen then mix together in the fuel cell stack and create a chemical reaction, generating the electricity that powers the vehicle!
4. As soon as you press the gas pedal, electricity is sent to the motor.
5. What’s left after the hydrogen fuel process? dihydrogen-monoxide aka water! Which can be seen trickling out of the tailpipe

Fast Facts:

§  Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe

§  There will be an estimated 100 hydrogen stations in California by 2020

§  Hydrogen needs to be separate before it is used. There are three process today that does just that: gasification, steam reforming, electrolysis

§  The fuel cell stack isn’t an experimental concept. It has actually been tested and used to power numerous products including submarines and backup power generators

§  Toyota’s intelligent monitoring system includes shut off valves that isolates the hydrogen tanks in an emergency