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South africa’s first hydrogen bike rolled out

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Nameless1

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Something interesting I thought you might enjoy reading :)


**broken link removed**
 
Imagine that thing on the N1 between Pretoria and Jo-burg :D
 
HAHAHAHA I can actually picture that happening!!!
 
h goody, another toy that only 2% of the population can afford...or even use. There is a HELL of a lot that S Africa needs to change before ANY vehicle, inexpensive or not, can be useful.
 
One would think a simple trike/bicycle might be a better option (certainly a lot easier to repair and fuel). There are only a few useful ways that hydrogen as a "fuel" (its really an energy carrier, not a fuel) could be produced - and even then there are likely better options (electrolysis is actually one of the worst ways to do it except for small scale usage like on-demand welding). Then there's the issue of storage and transportation (one of the interesting and clean methods is via borohydrates - but you need a source of borax; I've had an idea on how to do this for the southwest USA for a while now, in a completely clean solar plant operation, and I haven't had anybody refute the idea yet, but it is a big napkin sketch, and I am sure there are issues). Finally, there isn't enough platinum (or any of the other rare metals that go into fuel cells) on the planet to allow for anything like the demand (its basically "peak oil" but with rare metals instead) - it is much better that those metals go into other uses, not fuel cells (except in the cases where there isn't any other option).
 
h goody, another toy that only 2% of the population can afford...or even use. There is a HELL of a lot that S Africa needs to change before ANY vehicle, inexpensive or not, can be useful.

You sound like an Ex-pat? From where if I may ask?
 
Crosh, you should post ur Napkin Sketch on here...who knows, it may be useful with some input fron others.
 
i must say although im all for hydrogen powered vehicles, a bicycle is a silly idea. whats wrong with pedaling nowadays??

if it were a family car or bigger then i can see the attraction, but to put a £5000+ fuel cell into a bike is just plain silly.
 
Crosh, you should post ur Napkin Sketch on here...who knows, it may be useful with some input fron others.

Well, it goes something like this:

The entire system would be located in the Daggett/Barstow area of California. This site was chosen because it currently has a) easy access to a major highway and rail lines, b) central corridor to LA, Vegas, Phoenix, c) near to the town of Boron, d) near the Colorado river, e) close to Kramer Junction, f) experience in the solar power industry (re - Solar-1 Plant, and other large scale plants sited there).

Bring in water via pipeline from the Colorado - this is the "feedstock" for the hydrogen. Use high-temperature solar funaces to both supply power to run the plant, as well as perform solar thermal dissociation of the water to "crack" it into hydrogen and oxygen (note - this is something that can also be done by nuclear fission); byproducts of excess power and oxygen would likely result which can be sold on the market, of course. The resulting hydrogen would then be processed into sodium borohydride, using borax (sodium borate) from the nearby town of Boron (likely supplied by rail).

The result would be the product (fuel pellets) that was tested (and then "disappeared") by a company (no longer around?) called "PowerBall" (look up "powerball hydrogen" for more info). This "solid state" method of hydrogen storage was safer and easier to transport than liquid or gaseous hydrogen; the company was working with Ballard (IIRC) to develop a fuel cell that could run off the hydrogen produced. From what I understood, the pellets would be added to water, which would react with the borohydride (causing heat which could be used to make steam - or the water would steam - I forget - which could run an auxilary engine for extra power), releasing the hydrogen (which would of course power a fuel-cell or engine in the vehicle). The water and leftovers of the reaction (I am no good at chemistry - I forget what was leftover) - a solid leftover in the solution - could be extracted and reprocessed back into the borohydrides. This could be accomplished, likely, as part of the "refueling" process of the car (with the liquid/solid mix picked up later by trucks or such as part of the station refilling).

If made completely solar - including the pumping of the water and the rail transport of the borax - it would be a fairly energy neutral proposition, maybe...

That's the "napkin sketch" - big idea, and I am sure there are more than a few holes in it...
 
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Hi Cr0sh

i like your idea, iv never used the borohydrides but i have used Iron-Titanium as a metal Hydride. Iron-Titanium Hydride can store around 500 times its own volume in Hydrogen and requires only a source of heat to release it after being stored.
 
One of my children owns a business in South Africa, I visit regularly, and as you can imagine, I hear quite a bit about the place, pretty much on a regular basis.
 
One of my children owns a business in South Africa, I visit regularly, and as you can imagine, I hear quite a bit about the place, pretty much on a regular basis.

I assume the news you hear would then be directly from family, and not via the local news media? For some reason they (the government) is trying everything in its power to stop media freedom in this country. Well, what else can you expect? During the Apartheid years, the ANC forged an alliance with the then communistic Russia. Russia in the mean time fell, and new democratic elections changed the political scene there. Here, democratic elections now leads to communism, the way Russia used to be. Politics! And they say engineers are full of it!
 
I assume the news you hear would then be directly from family, and not via the local news media? For some reason they (the government) is trying everything in its power to stop media freedom in this country. Well, what else can you expect? During the Apartheid years, the ANC forged an alliance with the then communistic Russia. Russia in the mean time fell, and new democratic elections changed the political scene there. Here, democratic elections now leads to communism, the way Russia used to be. Politics! And they say engineers are full of it!

I only hear the news directly from relatives, I have never trusted the African news media. As my daughter has a small business in a very poor area, as you can imagine, what I hear isnt often very positive.
I was also part of a film shoot a few years ago, set in the slums, which was a real eye-opener. I was not allowed anywhere without a heavily armoured guard...I was scared out of my mind.
 
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Crosh, what a intelligent, well thought out idea...pretty bloody amazing idea for a napkin note.
 
Crosh, what a intelligent, well thought out idea...pretty bloody amazing idea for a napkin note.

Thank you for the vote of confidence in it!

I live in Phoenix, my parents lived in California (where I grew up); I often drove that route to avoid going near LA on my way to visit. Over time (given that there isn't much to see along the route going thru the Mojave) and reading about the technolgies, the idea gelled.

Word of note (caution?), if you want to see what weird religiosity can get up to in backwoods California, take a drive around Daggett (just outside of Barstow). I did that once, looking for gas, and I could swear I heard banjos playing in the background (amid the scrawled graffiti of bible verses and whatnot on the walls of abandoned buildings, that is). About as weird as a small town here in AZ that I drove thru that seemed abandoned (and at the same time, "lived in" - as if people were in the houses, but not outside - looking out at strangers?) - which had a huge field surrounded by many (more than 20) large, 30-40 foot tall white crosses. It had a strange "children of the corn" feel to it...
 
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