HYDROGEN3: MUCH LIKE A REAL CAR.(News)

If Hy-Wire reinvents the car, the HydroGen3 is easier to relate to. It's basically an Opel Zafira minivan converted to run on a fuel cell. The one we drove around portions of the F1 race course in Monaco had its fuel cell and electric drive system built onto a cradle that bolts in place of the ordinary engine/transmission. It could be built on the same line with internal-combustion Zafiras.

It also could be driven alongside an ordinary Zafira without you noticing much difference. It weighs about 400 pounds more, but has the same interior volume (the hydrogen is stowed, whether as compressed gas or as a cryogenic liquid, in roughly the same space as the gas tank). There are several such runners in Europe, and the Monaco demonstration involved three, including both liquid- and gas-storage versions.

The HydroGen3 uses a throttled fuel cell (as does the Hy-wire, which shares the drivetrain parts, though it mounts them differently). When you press the pedal to request more speed, it responds by pumping more hydrogen into the cell to generate more electricity to feed the engine. This is a tough nut to crack, making the cell respond as quickly as an engine, so most fuel-cell cars are really hybrids, using the cell to charge a battery, which stores enough juice to meet a driver's demand for a burst of acceleration.

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