Look, it's a fuel cell vehicle - well, half of one, anyway! This older model Nissan FCV has been cut away so that visitors can see how it is put together. (In this model, the fuel cells are under the hood.)

A good-looking model from Honda waits in the garage (we didn't get to drive this one). I don't know what the black tubes on the wall are - I want to say they're for pumping H₂, but I'm not sure that's true!

CAFCP staff members drove the cars around a small track, and the visitors lined up for rides. This blue Nissan FCV is the next generation of the green cutaway we saw earlier.

The energy monitor on the dashboard of the Nissan FCV shows that, at the moment, energy is flowing from the wheels into the electric motor and recharging the battery. (Most FCVs are powered by not only a stack of fuel cells, but also an electric motor and a battery for auxiliary power. The battery is recharged when braking. In this respect, they are similar to gasoline-electric hybrids.)

DaimlerChrysler was the first car company to start making fuel-cell vehicles. Here is its latest model of the FCell, which was first produced in 2002.

Have you noticed that all of the fuel cell vehicles are vans or SUVs? There's a reason for that: the hydrogen storage tanks are bulky, and it's difficult to fit them in the body of a small car. There was one fuel cell sedan at CAFCP (the Ford Focus) but the trunk was entirely full of fuel tanks - "Don't use that one for a trip to the airport," we were advised. Even so, the range of most FCVs is currently only 100-250 miles, compared to 400 for most conventional cars. The engineers are working on it!

The inside of a fuel cell vehicle looks much like that of a normal vehicle. However, an FCV is nearly silent when in operation. During acceleration, a high-pitched whine is heard. This is the compressor working harder to force hydrogen and oxygen into the fuel cell stack.

Kevin and Chigo exit the Nissan FCV (with brochures and souvenirs in hand). That was fun!

This is not what we're used to seeing under the hood of a car. The F-Cell has no engine; the black box that this CAFCP engineer is pointing to is part of the electrical system. In fact, just about everything is part of the electrical system - the whole car is electronic. (The fuel cells themselves are under the floor of the car, not the hood.)

Nope, there's no engine under there. No oil tank either.

This is a hydrogen fuel cell car, and don't you forget it! (Some types of fuel cells use other fuels, such as methanol or natural gas, but auto manufacturers are focusing on proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, which use hydrogen.)

One of the engineers (not pictured) told us, "I don't think fuel cell vehicles are a silver bullet - I think they're only part of the solution." They're ideal for some applications, he said, but because of their limited range and operating conditions, they would not be able to replace all other vehicle technologies. "But don't tell my colleagues I said that," he added.

A view under the hood of the Toyota FCHV. The silver box is the electrical control system, and the fuel cell stack is directly underneath it.

To refuel an FCV, you connect this valve to a hose from a high-pressure hydrogen tank. The hydrogen in the car's fuel tanks is stored under very high pressure (currently 5,000 psi; tanks are being developed to withstand 10,000 psi). This may not sound like a good idea, but the tanks are rigorously tested, and have a variety of safety mechanisms. (For example, in a hot fire, a lead plate on the floor of the tank will melt and allow the hydrogen to escape rather than exploding.) Once an FCV has used 95% of the hydrogen in its tanks, the pressure becomes too low to extract the rest, and refueling is necessary.

Yes, it's true that FCVs produce nothing but pure water (and heat) as exhaust. Nate demonstrates his faith in this specification.

Our tour is finished and the garage door is closing. (Notice the wet tire tracks that the cars have made from their own exhaust.) Inside on the left you can just glimpse a DaimlerChrysler NECAR 6. The NECAR 1 was the first fuel cell vehicle ever made, back in 1994. We've come a long way since then! Though fuel cell vehicles still face significant hurdles, they have been around for only twelve years, whereas the internal combustion engine has been around ten times longer. Perhaps the ER 100 students in 2026 will all be driving FCVs without a second thought.

The California Fuel Cell Partnership flies the flags of all the countries from which its member organizations come, including the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Korea, and Japan. We are very grateful to the CAFCP staff who welcomed us and shared their knowledge with us. It felt strange to drive home in our gasoline-powered cars... instead of the growling engines, we were almost expecting the ethereal hum of fuel cells.

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