Let’s talk about Hydrogen
Not ones to shy away from new ideas, WARFA held a function in 2012 so we could learn about “Hydrogen – the fuel of the future.” Is it?
The meeting focused on fuel from water, commonly known as hydrogen created by electricity or electrolysis.
One of our members found a video on YouTube and it was shown at a 2012 WARFA meeting at East Vic Park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8QYt54EpE
This video shows a Dodge pickup V8 petrol engined truck being powered by a hydrogen production unit producing 55 litres per minute from an onboard unit. The video created a lot of discussion, some of it skeptical to the claims that were being made, some are now true believers. The stories about Stan Meyers are also well known if you check via Google.
To allow a full discussion of this topic, we held a meeting just for this purpose.
So if you have any hands on experience with running electrolysis units in your vehicle, please come along. Or if you know someone that does it, bring them along.
These could be the small units that are not uncommon for diesel users to add a little extra into the combustion. We know these seem to work.
What is more interesting is if you have one of the units on the YouTube video which claim to entirely replace the regular fuel supply and power the vehicle on a 3000km road trip (as in the YouTube video); we are open to hearing about your experiences and what you have to tell us.
In dedicating a meeting to 100% onboard hydrogen creation, WARFA is not promoting onboard hydrogen as a total world solution, neither are we canning it as cuckoo land stuff. We want to give everyone who has experience with it, the chance to talk about it and explore the interesting claims that have been made.
Update: A decade later and hydrogen is still being touted as a useful fuel, particularly by Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest who is building large solar farms, electrolyses units and batteries plus ammonia powered haul trucks and even ore trains.
How it works in small installations typical of WARFA members is still a place for the adventurous and risk takers.