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A taxi cab that runs on the latest hydrogen fuel cell technology
is being developed with the aim of being ready for full road
trials in time for the 2012 Olympics.
The car looks and drives just like a standard London black
cab - but underneath the bonnet is some cutting-edge technology
by sports carmaker Lotus.
The fuel cell taxi can hit a top speed of 81mph, go from
0-60mph in 14 seconds and has a range of more than 250 miles
on a full tank of hydrogen. Like electric vehicles, the new
taxi does not produce any emissions from its tailpipe - but,
unlike battery-electric cars, it will only take a few minutes
to fill up from empty.
The widespread introduction of hydrogen cars has long been
a goal of some green campaigners, because eventually they
allow transport fuel to be generated from renewable energy.
Wind and solar plants could be used to drive the process
of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen - and the hydrogen
piped to filling stations. Iceland has already begun constructing
a hydrogen grid using plentiful geothermal energy. However,
in the short term, hydrogen vehicles in the UK are likely
to be powered by fuel derived from oil.
Henri Winand, of Intelligent
Energy, which makes the fuel cells used in the taxis,
said they were an ideal way to begin building the infrastructure
required for a hydrogen-based transport system - seen as one
of the big stumbling blocks for the wider introduction of
hydrogen vehicles.
"With fleets you can deploy a little infrastructure, which
you can build up with the more fleets you have, rather than
going straight to consumers who might be wondering where the
next filling station is."
London's deputy mayor, Kit Malthouse, announced last year
that, by 2012, there would be six hydrogen filling stations
in the capital. He said he wanted around 20-50 taxis in operation
by then as part of the Black
Cabs Go Green programme, as well as 150 hydrogen-powered
buses.
"The intent is to take the taxis and retrofit a powertrain
that has zero tailpipe emissions," said Winand. "But also
it has to deliver some very important things - a reasonable
range, very quick refuelling time and no modifying the passenger
or driver space."
After modification, he said no one would be able to tell
the difference between a hydrogen cab and a regular one, apart
from the lack of diesel fumes. The first few hydrogen taxis,
which were funded in part by the government's Technology Strategy
Board, have already been built at the Lotus headquarters in
Norfolk.
Intelligent Energy, leading the consortium for the new hydrogen
taxi, has designed and built the fuel cell, which uses hydrogen
to make electricity. Lotus is responsible for integrating
the fuel cell into the body of the taxi - in their design,
pressurised hydrogen is stored in a tank where the internal
combustion engine of a standard cab would be. The fuel cell
produces electricity and feeds it to a battery pack under
the floor of the taxi's passenger area. The batteries then
drive motors in the wheels.
"To do that with a purely battery-electric vehicle, you would
have to take up most of the space at the back with batteries,
where the passengers are, or certainly you would constrict
that space substantially," said Winand. "And you'd probably
have to stop halfway through the day to plug in somewhere."
Mainstream manufacturers are also getting interested in hydrogen.
Daimler, Hyundai, Honda and Toyota have all announced plans
in recent months to have fuel-cell vehicles available for
the consumer market by 2015.
"There is a global drive to reduce CO2
emission levels and this is something we are dedicated to,
for both Lotus cars and our engineering clients," said Simon
Wood of Lotus Engineering.
"The fuel cell hybrid taxi is a fantastic achievement for
all the companies involved. The level of quality and professionalism
that has been demonstrated is extremely high and the taxi
is already running through a series of tests."
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