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You've probably been wondering when hydrogen cars will get off their arses and actually make their way to market. Well, a company in Texas may release a high-end hydrogen-petrol sportscar by this autumn.
Rather than using fuel cells to power an electric motor, the Scorpion from Ronn Motor Company would have an internal combustion engine burning both petrol and hydrogen, achieving 40 motorway miles per gallon. Unlike with a hydrogen fuel cell car, the Scorpion's "hydrogen on demand" system wouldn't require a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank. Nor would a driver need to find and fill up at a hydrogen fuelling station.
Instead, electricity from the Scorpion's alternator sends an electric charge through the water in a storage tank, explains Ronn Maxwell, CEO of Ronn Motor in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. That fractures molecules and releases hydrogen, which is injected into the motor.
"This means that as we're driving down the road, we're producing hydrogen in real time, and blending it with gasoline at a ratio of 30 to 40 per cent," he says. The hydrogen-petrol hybrid technology comes from Hydrorunner.
"We are still using gasoline, but we're gonna be using 40 per cent less," Maxwell says. "The hydrogen cleans up the emissions. It actually consumes carbon. It's not the perfect car, not electric, but it is something that'll work right now."
Ronn Motors showed off a working prototype of the Scorpion, sans body, in Austin this week.
The hydrogen internal combustion engine can achieve between 30 to 50 per cent greater efficiency over standard petrol cars, Maxwell adds. Under the hood is a 2009 Acura 3.5 Vtech motor with 280-horsepower stock, or 450-horsepower with a twin turbo option. The car has a six-speed manual transmission.
Ronn Motors has taken several orders so far and has plans to build 200 Scorpions this year, eventually ramping up to 500, Maxwell says. He believes his will be the first company to market a passenger car with a hydrogen-on-demand system, which gearheads already tinker with in private garages and which are available for the trucking industry.
Maxwell is targeting the sort of automotive aficionados who might collect Lamborghinis, Ferraris or an electric Tesla, but says he wants to create a sedan next. It remains to be seen whether Ronn Motors will succeed in delivering its roadster to customers by October as planned.
The company's stock was listed on the Pink Sheets 29 May. Meanwhile, building the necessary fuelling infrastructure remains just one of the barriers to wider adoption of hydrogen fuel cell cars, which primarily reside in the garages of a wealthy and famous few.
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