Methanol fuel cell systems for automotive application

摘要

The fuel cell is actually an old invention. The principle how to produce electricity by an electro-chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen was discovered by Sir William Grove in 1839, years before the internal combustion engine was made. 50 years later, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler made significant improvements to a today's well-known technology. At that time engines with a few horse powers weighed 100 kg. Since then the engine has become smaller, lighter, easier to operate, more robust and cheaper to manufacture. (1) Today, all major vehicle manufacturers in the world are working on fuel cell technology for transportation applications and have allocated substantial resources to these programs. The Fuel Cell Alliance of Daimler-Chrysler, Ford and Ballard Power Systems was the first industrial group that took the strategic initiative to develop fuel cell systems for commercial vehicles, followed by Toyota and General Motors in 2000. Other major international automotive companies such as Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Fiat are also significantly expanding their efforts in this activity. There is a general consensus that market introduction of fuel cell vehicles on a mass production scale is expected in this decade.