A professor at Purdue University, Jerry Woodall, has found a method of producing hydrogen from aluminum alloy pellets and water. This is very important for the motor industry as it promises to solve many of the problems that confront the introduction of engines running on hydrogen as a fuel.

Although hydrogen is the perfect alternative fuel, its exhaust containing nothing more harmful than water vapor, its use has been dogged by a bad press, with memories of old airship disasters like the Hindenburg, the problem that generating it by electrolysis uses more power than it produces, and the difficulties involved in storing it in quantity. The Purdue solution offers a way around all of these, suggesting that cars of the future need only fill up with the alloy pellets.

Hydrogen is generated spontaneously when water is added to pellets of the alloy, which is made of aluminum and a metal called gallium. The researchers have shown how hydrogen is produced when water is added to a small tank containing the pellets. Hydrogen produced in such a system could be fed directly to an engine.

Gallium is an important ingredient since it stops a skin of aluminum oxide forming and protecting the metal from further reaction with the water. And the by product of the reaction is hydrogen…

The Purdue Foundation has applied for the patent to the process and plans are in process for its commercial use.

In keeping with the “earthdream” color scheme for their F1 racers, Honda has been trying out a hydrogen-fueled car, the FCX, with selected customers in California. The styling is a bit retro, boxy and unimaginative but, when it’s alternative fuels that matter, who cares about the car’s looks?

Well, it seems Honda does. They have been showing off a new body for the FCX that is much more up to date and stylish. Called the FCX Concept, it has the usual modern grin for a grille and swooping lines everywhere.

I must be getting old - to me it just looks ugly…

As we saw with the GM Hy-Wire, hydrogen is the best alternative fuel. The big problem with it is its bad press - thanks to the Hindenberg and other airship disasters, it has an aura of danger about it and people imagine giant fireballs where once there was a car. The fact that hydrogen is less flammable than gasoline stands little chance against such images unless a public re-education program is instituted.

That is exactly what BMW intends with its introduction of the hybrid H7, a normal-looking saloon that runs on both gasoline and hydrogen. The company intends to import 25 H7s this year for loan to people who can advance the cause of hydrogen as a fuel.

For more than fifty years there have been cars that run on hydrogen - but early ones depended upon containing the gas within a pressurized fuel tank, thus allowing us to fear leaks and explosions (although neither has ever happened, as far as I know). BMW have chosen to cool the gas to a liquid, making it easier to handle and allaying our fears.

Hydrogen has so many obvious advantages as an alternative fuel that we cannot afford to ignore it. It has almost the same power to volume ratio as gasoline and the product of burning it is as innocuous as water. In fact, it is water. Rather than considering turning our farms over to ethanol-producing corn and starving ourselves in the process, we should be getting used to the idea of hydrogen as a fuel.

One warning, however: if you want to build an airship, use helium, not hydrogen…

GM Hy-Wire

Although the global warming scare is much more a matter of manipulation of the media for political ends than anything to do with scientific fact, the desire to find a more environment-friendly power source than the internal combustion engine is nothing new. As long ago as the late sixties, there was recognition that such a change would have to come and various alternatives were suggested.

The electric motor appeared then as the most likely solution and this sparked a hunt for lighter and more efficient batteries. The range of new and rechargeable batteries we can buy these days is a result of that but no truly practicable solution for the automobile has been found as yet - in fact, all seems to have gone quiet on the new battery front in recent years and I suspect the researchers may have given up on the idea.

So it was with joy that I discovered that GM have found a better answer than anything we envisaged in my youth. Forget the hybrids that still depend on gasoline for their primary power source, throw your weird batteries away and feast your eyes on the GM Hy-Wire!

This is the car of the future, the answer that makes all the alternatives look silly. In designing and building this car, General Motors’ engineers have shown that they can still think clearly and logically towards an elegant and practical solution to a problem. Be proud, America!

But you don’t have to take me at my word - I am an instant convert and we know how over-enthusiastic one of those can be. See for yourself by clicking on this link. But be prepared to be as besotted with the machine as I am - it is a truly beautiful concept and it works.