|
Thats just it dcb. I don't know how to do that math I am missing some values. IE how much of an effect will the hydrogen have on my fuel economy if any (CAR ECU's will fight you on this I am hoping my older simpler single O2 sensor car will have less trouble with it)
I can produce more hydrogen with $5 of electricity than I would need to drive my car for 100 miles. So I know its possible.
the problem is BRINGING this energy with me in real time. Currently we can only carry about $2 in energy with us in a very expensive battery pack that I can not afford.
The problem is making the car USE the hydrogen assuming I can effectively produce it.
Someone gave me some "rough" numbers once and on doing the math to gain 20% fuel economy I would need to bring about 4-5 deep cycle batteries for my 54mile commute (charge once at work)
I already have the chargers and I already have the batteries. the problem is building an effective generator. I don't yet have the needed TIME to sit down and build a few and test them out and fine tune a design. I keep hoping someone else will do this work and provide a PDF with a list of stuff to buy at home depot and instructions for how to put it together for best H2 production per watt hour of power used etc..
there is very little REAL info on "specifics" available. one day I am just going to have to sit down and build one. I have some of the parts. I will be using a 5 gallon pail (orange from home depot LOVE orange)
I got the SS outlet plates and some nylon washers and hardware to assembly it. I have enough room for 5 cells in the bucket. I figure I will build one cell first and if it produces a nice quantity of gas I can add one more cell and one more battery. so eventually I would have 5 cells and 5 batteries.
if it really works well I would eventually switch over to NIMH pack them cell lifespan would become irrelevant. (with leads figure 2 years so thats $200 in batteries for 80,000 miles of driving or .0025cents per mile or or 400 miles per PENNY meaning I can simply ignore the cost of the batteries in the math.
The chargers I already have and I have never had one die (unless left outside but then thats my fault not the chargers) so I can ignore that cost.
Cost to build the hydrogen cell? about $25 in parts.
so no I don't really have to factor in the cost of the equipment. its so cheap that by the time I amortize it over even a few months driving its well below a penny a mile.
the only real unknown is HOW MANY mpg increase will I get if any and will the offset in fuel pay for the electricity to charge the batteries.
I wanted to just get a tank full of hydrogen and "see" what happens.
This could tell me if it would work AT ALL You see making a car run on hydrogen is EASY just don't give it any gas it will either run or it won't The problem is when you try to run it on BOTH hydrogen and Gasoline. will the computer properly use LESS gas to compensate for the presence of hydrogen? in fact thats the core problem INTERFACE with the electronics in the car.. that has its own complications though. actually its very easy but I would have to buy my own tank and regulator and those are well beyond my financial means just now. the actual hydrogen is about $18 to fill the tank. its the tank and regulator costs that kill it for me :-(
|