Has anyone looked into converting their Prius into a hydrogen burning car? I have seen a few website talking about offering kits to do the conversion. Seems to me that this would drastically reduce pollution and possible better gas milage. Ignoring the lack of hydrogen filling stations.
Oh that's silly. A hydrogen car would just float up into the stratosphere and disappear. What good would that be? A Toyota Prius equipped with the Hindebergian option. 8)
:lol: :lol: It's the Mary Poppins car!! :lol: :lol: Why is it that some people want to take a great product and monkey around with it and make it something it was never intended to be? Jeez - just drive the darn thing and don't mess with it.
Ironic statement there Miniracer. I am sure that is exactly the thinking the GM and Ford displayed when Toyota began to develope the hybrid engine in the early 90's. "Nothing is wrong with a gas engine. It is fine just the way it is. If we start to mess with it, it might turn out BETTER!" Anyways, I am mainly asking the people in Cali, who have access to hydrogen stations. Have any of ya'll thought about doing the hydrogen conversion and driving with only trace amounts of NO2 to leave behind?
I suppose if you were converting an ordinary gasoline engine to hydrogen it could be done, but I doubt very much it could readily be done with our Prius. Actually our hybrids think for themselves. All we have to do is point them to where we are going. The Prius engine is no ordinary engine. Its 16 valves alone with its variable valve timing would probably require total redesign to say nothing about the computer programming. If I were absolutely determined to convert a gasoline engine to hydrogen I would start with a Geo or a Neon which would cost perhaps less than half the Prius costs and make the relatively simple conversion. Then the time saved on the redesign could be spent looking for hydrogen fuel stations. Whatshisname
If you're studying this for emissions reasons, you need to take into account that at current, it takes quite a bit of energy to obtain that hydrogen. While the act of being burned may be nearly zero emissions, the power consumed to make that hydrogen has put out quite a bit of pollution. Untill renewable energy sources become more common in the grid, hydrogen is a losing proposition as a fuel. Fuel economy itself is substantially lower as there is very little energy in hydrogen when compared to gasoline. These problems will be addressed over time. Right now though, I'd concur with the others and say to not mess with a good thing. The Prius computer interaction is far more deeply involved than the standard OBD III systems in the rest of the automobile world.
ah, could you please run some numbers for me? "drastically reduce pollution"? sure going from 99.99% clean to 100% clean is a nice jump, but compared to where we were in the 60s and 70s, the difference to the atmosphere probably wouldn't be measurable until 99.99999% of the world's cars were hybrids already! but if you've got the time and money, knock yourself out!
I understand that the THS was designed so that the ICE could be removed and a Hydogen Power Plant could be put into that space. Sure there are other subsystems that would requre change/updating. (storage tank to name a few) Now could this be done out in the wild, or be required to be done at the line durning production. Good question. But with enough monday most thangs can be done after market. I would like to see a Hydogen/Hybrid... What would the MPG... yes Hybrid.. save on Hydogen just like I do on the current fuel in use today.. but better bat's
There is a company out in Cali modifying 35 Prii to Hydrogen buring. You can do a triple hybrid system. Gas, Hydrogen, Electric. While the Prius is a very clean running vehical it does have pollution. The NO2 levels are still higher in an ICE. CO2 still comes out the exhaust. http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/FuelCellToday...02,4111,00.html Price tag for 35 Triple Hydrogen cars is 4 million. I am sure alot of that is in R&D.
