This Hydrogen Fuel Cell RC Car Upgrade Kit is one of the coolest RC cars kits I have seen in a long time. It is pricey though, hopefully when these hydrogen fuel cells become more common place the price will come down to earth.
Video after the jump
“The H-cell is a unique integration “upgrade” kit for electric hobby R/C cars, designed as a drop in unit that can fit inside widely available Tamiya TT-01 type chassis. The H-cell system designed by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies includes a 30W air-cooled, air-breathing and self-humidified PEM fuel cell stack with integrated bright blue light-emitting fans and a sleek aluminium casing. The integration kit also includes electronic controls, a miniature pressure regulator and three 10L metal hydride canisters in a hydrogen storage “rack”. At maximum power output and with a single charge, the H-cell can run the car at 35 km/h for over 1 hour, as opposed to just 15 minutes with the conventional Nimh battery.”
Great car, but I believe that they will have to spend many years until we will be able to see real life applications of this technology, hopefully the rising of the petroleum prices will accelerate the process
In case you didn’t know, hydrogen not only is extremely expensive, but not realistic and most likely it will never become cheap enough to throw away on something like this, although it looks interesting and i would like to try it.
Here is a fuel cell for RC cars, $1,500! That thing is faaaaast! The H-cell is a unique integration “upgrade” kit for electric hobby R/C cars, designed as a drop in unit that can fit inside widely available Tamiya…
Umm, I am under the impression that Platinum is still the main ingredient to create the electrochemical reaction within a hydrogen fuel cell. Because of this, there isn’t enough raw platinum to create all of the fuel cells necessary to even put a dent in our energy problem. However it is a neat toy.
As others mentioned, it’s not something to model a large-scale car after. However, this does seem like the most practical fuel-cell application I’ve seen in a while.
Whats so amazing about a water powered car. Its simple electrolysis. The water (H20) is broken down into Hydrogen (H) and Ozygen (O). The Hydrogen (H) is then used to power the car. Its the same thing except in this case there is no middle man and the Hydrogen (H) is used directly. That is what drives up the cost.
Platinum can be used, but you can also get hold of special membranes that allow either the proton of the Hydrogen to pass through, whilst the electron is forced to go through a wire (thats where you get the power from) to get to the other side so that the reaction can be completed. Im pretty sure thats how it works anyway, and it eliminates the use of the platinum. If I can find a link i will post it.
Wow - very cool! I love where technology is taking us, this RC vehicle is pretty insane. Pretty sleek looking too you know? I wouldn’t mind one myself!
Honda now has a real hydrogen car that you can buy, and it comes with it’s own hydrogen filling station. http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/. It is most certainly a few dollars more then the h2, but you can fit in it…
It looks like everyday people are trying to invent new ways to prolong their batteries, specially women who talks a lot on the phone.
But now put some Hydrogen fuel cell I think it’s a little lets say crossing the line, not mentioning risky. …
this car is cool but i have seen one for 10 times cheaper an with it’s own docking station which means that you don’t have to buy hydrogen all you have to do is put water in the docking station and connect the car and it fuels it self
link:http://www.latestbuy.com.au/hracer_hydrogen_car.html
ok for all of the people out there who think water is an abundent resource look at the fasts the amount of water on the earth remains the same all the time and popultion is going up all the time so it doesn’t take a genious to figure out that water is in short supply
Exactly, a genius would notice that because the supply of water isn’t dropping with an increase in population then the population isn’t affecting the supply of water. So, it takes a genius to figure out that water is not in short supply.
April 23rd, 2007
Great car, but I believe that they will have to spend many years until we will be able to see real life applications of this technology, hopefully the rising of the petroleum prices will accelerate the process
April 23rd, 2007
In case you didn’t know, hydrogen not only is extremely expensive, but not realistic and most likely it will never become cheap enough to throw away on something like this, although it looks interesting and i would like to try it.
April 23rd, 2007
Wasnt there a kit circleing the net not too long ago of an RC car that ran on water?
April 23rd, 2007
I would soo like to get that….but obtaining the hydrogen migh be hard/time consumeing.
April 23rd, 2007
Water powered! If you find the link I would love to check it out.
April 23rd, 2007
Fuel cells for RC cars (kit)
Here is a fuel cell for RC cars, $1,500! That thing is faaaaast! The H-cell is a unique integration “upgrade” kit for electric hobby R/C cars, designed as a drop in unit that can fit inside widely available Tamiya…
April 23rd, 2007
Umm, I am under the impression that Platinum is still the main ingredient to create the electrochemical reaction within a hydrogen fuel cell. Because of this, there isn’t enough raw platinum to create all of the fuel cells necessary to even put a dent in our energy problem. However it is a neat toy.
April 24th, 2007
@Alan Parekh
http://www.discoverthis.com/fuelcelcaran.html
Theres the kit
April 24th, 2007
As others mentioned, it’s not something to model a large-scale car after. However, this does seem like the most practical fuel-cell application I’ve seen in a while.
April 24th, 2007
Thanks for the link Lies.
April 24th, 2007
Pretty spiffy indeed.
April 24th, 2007
Whats so amazing about a water powered car. Its simple electrolysis. The water (H20) is broken down into Hydrogen (H) and Ozygen (O). The Hydrogen (H) is then used to power the car. Its the same thing except in this case there is no middle man and the Hydrogen (H) is used directly. That is what drives up the cost.
April 24th, 2007
The amazing-ness behind it is how easy is it to find hydrogen for cheap? Water is very abundant and costs alot less than most things
April 25th, 2007
Platinum can be used, but you can also get hold of special membranes that allow either the proton of the Hydrogen to pass through, whilst the electron is forced to go through a wire (thats where you get the power from) to get to the other side so that the reaction can be completed. Im pretty sure thats how it works anyway, and it eliminates the use of the platinum. If I can find a link i will post it.
April 26th, 2007
Okay, so where’s my fuel-cell car, FORD?!
April 26th, 2007
Plus Hydrogen is the most abundant of chemical elements, constituting about 75% of the universe’s elemental mass
April 29th, 2007
I’ve seen buses running around London, here’s a link showing them http://www.londonbuspage.com/040119.htm
June 13th, 2007
Wow - very cool! I love where technology is taking us, this RC vehicle is pretty insane. Pretty sleek looking too you know? I wouldn’t mind one myself!
http://www.everything-rc-cars.com
December 30th, 2007
Honda now has a real hydrogen car that you can buy, and it comes with it’s own hydrogen filling station. http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/. It is most certainly a few dollars more then the h2, but you can fit in it…
February 17th, 2008
MOTOSLVR L7 Hydrogen fuel cell prototype…
It looks like everyday people are trying to invent new ways to prolong their batteries, specially women who talks a lot on the phone.
But now put some Hydrogen fuel cell I think it’s a little lets say crossing the line, not mentioning risky. …
June 3rd, 2008
this car is cool but i have seen one for 10 times cheaper an with it’s own docking station which means that you don’t have to buy hydrogen all you have to do is put water in the docking station and connect the car and it fuels it self
link:http://www.latestbuy.com.au/hracer_hydrogen_car.html
June 26th, 2008
That car Is sick I want one .
July 8th, 2008
ok for all of the people out there who think water is an abundent resource look at the fasts the amount of water on the earth remains the same all the time and popultion is going up all the time so it doesn’t take a genious to figure out that water is in short supply
August 5th, 2008
heffyjustin,
Exactly, a genius would notice that because the supply of water isn’t dropping with an increase in population then the population isn’t affecting the supply of water. So, it takes a genius to figure out that water is not in short supply.