Will it soon be possible to switch your thermal vehicle to hydrogen? Researchers from the laboratoryFrench Institute of Petroleum and New Energies (IFPEN) are working on conversion solution engine combustion in a hydrogen engine.
A real line of research to be able to adhere to the Paris Agreements of 2015. As a reminder, France must have vehicle fleet without emissions until 2050. What exactly is this research? Is it viable? Answer elements.
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Electronic box for replacing the necessary fuel
Therefore, to convert your car to hydrogen, it would theoretically be enough to install new electronic box. The latter will be added to the already existing heat engine. Nevertheless, it should be check the injection pattern and adapt the tank. Changes similar to those already being made for motorists wishing to install an E85 box.
According to the first results recorded by IFPEN, they are final. to 120 km/h and about 3000 rpm, converted engine does not emit CO2, and almost without small particles.
Hydrogen, a very promising solution
If IFPEN has turned to this solution for the future, it is because hydrogen – on paper – very promising. Unlike electric cars, height and weight the engines required are less important. Autonomy is also more consistent but it’s primarily the cooldown that makes you want to. This is done as quickly as a full tank of gas. A far cry from the charging time required for an electric car. Including at high-speed terminals.
However, there are still a few things that need to be improved before we can run on hydrogen. There are still charging stations few are present on the territory. Hydrogen production, for its part, is still in the main through hydrocarbons, and therefore not necessarily “renewable”. IFPEN also specifies ” that based on the selling price at hydrogen stations of 4 to 6 euros per kilogram (electrolysis and low-carbon French electricity) by 2040, hydrogen fuel cell (FC) technology. currently remains uncompetitive for light vehicles due to high acquisition and operating costs“.
IFPEN is also working on these different aspects. He recently acquired a test bench dedicated to the hydrogen engine, and its two mobile solutions (thermal model conversion or “new” hydrogen engine).
However, the institute does not put all its eggs in one basket. For IFPEN, carbon-free mobility will be based on both an electric car and a hydrogen car. Indeed, according to Bertrand-Olivier Ducret, Transport and Mobility Engineer at ADEME, “ The optimal response to the wide variety of uses of light commercial vehicles (couriers, artisans) may be based on several new solutions for motorization: electric, as soon as the need for autonomy allows it, or hydrogen, if the mission requires a longer range. »
Source: Auto Plus
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