Filed under: Hydrogen
Hydrogen fuel cell radio controlled car hits the market at $1500
Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies is really on a roll when it comes to making small play-things powered by hydrogen. We first showed you their H-Racer hydrogen fuel cell car, next told you they were working on a radio controlled version, and then, finally, we showed you the new radio controlled "jet" which uses a hydrogen fuel cell provided by Horizon for power, and now we bring news of their new hydrogen fuel cell radio controlled car, the H-cell. The vehicle is actually a kit designed to drop right into an existing Tamiya TT-01 chassis, and "combines an ultra-compact air-cooled, light emitting PEM fuel cell system, and a scaled down fuel storage system that can safely carry up to 30 liters of solid state hydrogen." The vehicle can reach speeds of up to 22 miles per hour, and utilizes ultra-capacitors to aid in the power delivery. The on-board hydrogen can power the vehicle for up to 70 minutes, and will run you $1,500 if you see this as a "must have". Hey, nobody ever said that technology is cheap!
Related:
- Video: Hydrogen fuel cell powered "jet" takes flight
- Hydrogen fuel-cell powered H-racer toy wins cool award
- Ouch! R/C fuel cell will cost $1,500
[Source: Horizon Fuel Cell]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 3:35PM (4/13/2007)
I can see that it's priced to scale too. $1,500. for hydrogen where you would pay less than $150. if you just used batteries. I wonder where they get the H2 fuel? Isn't fantasy nice...
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Howard Lee Harkness 3:48PM (4/13/2007)
Ah, yes, hydrogen. The fuel for people with more money than sense. Or for people who can freely spend other people's money.
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pkuhl 4:44PM (4/13/2007)
"Hey, nobody ever said that technology is cheap!"
I'm saying that hydrogen fuel cell technology is not only expensive, but wasteful and grossly inferior to *existing* chemical battery technology.
Here's the European Fuel Cell Forum scientist that agrees:
http://www.efcf.com/e/reports/E17.pdf
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Joseph 5:33PM (4/13/2007)
Looks pretty fast for a FCV.
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Chris M 5:37PM (4/13/2007)
A perfect demonstration of all the things that are wrong with H2 fuel cell cars: Too costly, expensive hard-to-find fuel, and inferior in performance compared to much cheaper and readily batteries. Since battery powered R/C cars have swappable batteries, even refuling this H2 R/C toy takes too darn long!
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frank78 7:21PM (4/13/2007)
Why exacty would anyone with the fiscal ability to purchase a $1500 radio controlled car actually buy do so?? For novelty purposes I guess. The battery ones don't give off emissions, so why pay 10 times as much???
Just stupid. This is a small scale version of the reality of lifesized fuel cell compared to lifesized electric cars. The hydrogen economy sounds nice but will not happen. Not before the 22nd century. Even if it could, it would be wasteful- hydrogen is not an energy source, it is an energy carrier. Electric cars on the other hand will start out in the next 5 years as PHEVs (with some expensive all electrics). Once the economies of scale kicks in, the improvements in efficiency take place, an all electric car with fast recharge and range of 400+ miles will be available for $30,000 or less in today's dollars. With simpler mechanical design, maintenance and repair will be cheaper, so that alone saves money. All this is realistic in the next 15 years. No emissions, so why would we want to move to a hydrogen economy?? Even if fuel cells become cheaper, they'll be more costly when you figure in having to fill up at a station like the gas stations of today- this will cost more than plugging in at home, not to mention the infrastructure problems with hydrogen.
Electric- realistic. Hyrdogen- wasteful, inefficient and expensive.
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John Rowell 1:27AM (4/15/2007)
Pretty impressive specs
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