Is fuel cell technology being developed for use in cars?

Some car manufacturers are actually trying to power vehicles using hydrogen powered fuel cells.

They can provide up to 3 to 4 times better efficiency in the engine when compared to internal combustion. You can read more about it in this article:

http://www.sierraclubgreenhome.com/fuel-cell/fuel-cell-uses/

I guess we will really see over the course of maybe the next 5 to 10 years which type of non-gasoline engine technology will prevail. I personally think hydrogen might do better then electric; if you run out of power in the middle of no where, it’s much easier to bring a tank of hydrogen fuel to you, than get a power line to your car.

UTC has been involved with Automobile use of fuel cells for almost ten years. Check out this article

I think the more promising automotive developments await in discovering the economical means to produce ethanol from “all cellulose” materials (not just those containing high levels of sugar, such as sugar cane, corn and beets). The reason for that is that all of the automobiles on the road today can be easily and cheaply converted (I’ve seen estimates of “about $100 per vehicle”) to run on any combination of gasoline, ethanol and methanol. Since filling stations already exist for the cars on the road today, it’s relatively simple to add tanks for methanol and ethanol and sell whatever mix the customer wants, pumped through a single hose.

The current problem with ethanol production is cost (related to supply, of course). As long as we use high-demand feed stocks (corn, sugar cane and beets), we drive up the cost of those materials for all users—including people who use them to feed themselves and livestock. So all food costs rise, too.

When we learn to make ethanol from grasses, including waste grasses (lawn clippings?), wood, waste wood and fallen leaves (“all plant materials” in other words) and do it at a cost that makes the fuel competitive with gasoline, then we’ll have a workable alternative that doesn’t have to drive up food costs around the world, too.

Hydrogen fuel stations exist scattered across Los Angeles, CA, for the use of those who are leasing fuel cell vehicles from several manufacturers, especially Honda and Toyota. This is Honda’s latest.

In some form or another, cars utilizing hydrogen fuel cells have been in development for possibly more than a decade. This is no new news, and recent development, tests, and projects have all been well into the positive side of the spectrum.

Both GM and Ford have demonstration fuel cell vehicles that have been running for years. They are incredibly expensive and require Hydrogen which is expensive and difficult to handle. It will be a long while before they will be as common as gasoline powered internal combustion engines.