Fuel Cells add up to make a BATTERY

All the chemicals are stored in a battery

The drive by governments for alternative fuels to power our vehicles is now reaching full steam ahead. Scientists all over the World are looking to find and experiment for different alternative products than using fossil fuels, for a greener Planet. This is now common knowledge and we have already reached huge steps in this direction. One of them is the hybrid car such as the Toyota Prius. This car has a conventional engine and a battery that sits on a power drive that is made of individual cells, this battery is known as a Li-On battery. This new type of battery is called a fuel cell and is powerful enough to drive the car for short distances, the car then reverts to the petrol engine and the battery is then re-charged, so that the car can use the battery again thus saving emissions fro the cars engine. Within the last 10 years, scientists all over the World have being working on an energy alternative to using fossil fuels that will help change the way we live by changing the source of fuel for our basic energy-consuming engines. This new battery technology in progress is called a fuel cell. A fuel cell supplies a DC (direct current) voltage that is used to power motors, lights, or any number of electrical appliances, that are used on modern cars. The technical name that is used for a fuel cell is an “electrochemical energy conversion device”. A fuel cell changes the chemicals “hydrogen and oxygen” into water, and in this process, produces electricity. The normal electrical device that we all know is the regular car battery. This still has an important role to play in the future as some companies are developing them by changing the negative plates to carbon. This process enables this type of battery to be connected to store energy from the use of “Solar Panels”. The main difference between a common type car battery and a fuel cell is that all the chemicals are stored inside the battery. To explain in an easy way, the construction and materials in a fuel cell release electrons from the hydrogen gas creating electricity and the waste product that is produced when the electricity is been used is water. This reaction in a single fuel cell that produces only about 0.7 volts. To increase the voltage up to a more powerful level, several separate fuel cells are combined together to form a fuel-cell stack.

Johnson Controls battery makers to the World are now making fuel cells

These are now produced by Johnson Controls, one of the Worlds leading battery companies. The whole idea of using fuel cell technology is for reducing pollution. Fuel cells are also very efficient; 80% of the fuel used in these cells is converted into usable energy as compared to only 20% for a “fossil fuel powered engine” and about 30% overall for a conventional AGM battery powered electric vehicle. There is no doubt that the fuel cell is leading us to the way forward, but in my opinion I think it will lead to a mix of solutions and there is no saying what will happen if a country finds a new massive supply of oil, will it all go to the wayside for another 200 years.