Nissan Motor Co. has developed a new kind of fuel cell drivetrain for cars that taps an onboard tank of ethanol instead of pressurized hydrogen, delivering a cheaper and safer ride that it says is more user friendly.
The new technology, dubbed an e-bio fuel cell, aims to combat a common hurdle to deploying traditional hydrogen fuel cell vehicles: the lack of a hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Nissan’s system uses bio-ethanol, derived from renewable crops such as corn or sugarcane, and that refueling infrastructure already largely exists.
E-bio fuel cells should also be less costly than traditional hydrogen systems because they don’t require the expensive carbon-fiber storage tanks for pressurized hydrogen or costly precious metals such as platinum as catalysts for electricity generation. Nissan aims to bring the technology to market in fleet vehicles by around 2020.
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