Hydrogen Fuel Cells Combine with other Technological Advances

We are all aware that the cars of the future will have to be powered by something other than petroleum based fuels. The most accepted and praised alternative to gasoline are hydrogen fuel cells. Designers and engineers are finding remarkable ways of incorporating hydrogen technology in cars. Innovation is not limited to the way cars are fueled. One company in particular has designed a vehicle that uses hydrogen fuel cells and a variety of the latest technologies in it’s design.

This new concept was recently revealed at a car convention in Switzerland. Pininfarina’s Sintesi car is being widely touted as the car of the future. The design impresses experts as well as the general public. The most amazing thing about the car is the use of four hydrogen fuel cells. The manufacturer calls it “Quaddrivium” Fuel Cells. They are placed near each of the four wheels of the vehicle. They are powered with 20 kilowatts of electricity using hydrogen, battery and solar energies. Power regenerates with braking. While the concept of regeneration when braking is not a completely new idea, the way it is employed with hydrogen truly is a new concept.

That is not all there is to this vehicle. It has a computer system that is more intelligent than any other car we have on the road today. The translucent dashboard lights up and displays information. The headlights use radar and cameras to help process information.
It “dialogs” with the environment, the street and other cars around it. The way in which this car collects outside information is a little scary for some people, but the technology used comes from concepts that are already available. This is simply the first car to employ them in this manner.

The general consensus is that if Pininfarina can do it, so should the biggest car companies in the world be able to produce this kind of hydrogen fuel cell car. While General Motors and BMW haven’t introduced a vehicle quite like the Sintesi, they are in the process of designing cars that use hydrogen fuel cells. BMW is testing them in Europe. General Motors is testing them in the United States. Honda and Daimler-Chrysler are among several more companies that are getting their feet wet in the hydrogen fuel cell world. When these cars are introduced to the general public, it is expected they will be too expensive for those who aren’t wealthy to buy. But isn’t that the case with most new technology? The price is expected to drop when they find more economical ways of producing the hydrogen fuel cell cars as well as the fuel needed to power them.

It wasn’t long ago that futuristic vehicles like Pininfarina’s Sintesi would have been thought of as science fiction. We are on the edge technological breakthroughs that will change the entire world. Some of this technology is within our reach and there is much more coming to us soon. Hydrogen fuel cells combined with intelligent processors - we have a lot to forward to!