Slide 5a The Fuel Cell Electric Power Train - 2  

• GM, Ford, Toyota, and Honda have each built Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) prototypes.

• Daimler-Chrysler have built five 'Necar' FCEV prototypes, based latterly on the A-Class.

• But they say that the fuel cell power train is still far too expensive.

• The fuel cells are fuelled by hydrogen, which is difficult to store on the vehicle.

• Moreover, there is no infrastructure to supply it.

• An alternative is methanol, which is rich in hydrogen and liquid at normal temperatures.

• However, it requires an on-board reformer to extract the hydrogen, which reduces efficiency and increases cost.

• Moreover, the supply of methanol (made from natural gas) is limited, although it can also be made from biomass.

• Gasoline could be used, but the technology for reforming this to extract the hydrogen is far less developed.

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