One Giant Step Toward Fuel Cells in a Matchbox

Posted by Bill Belew on February 25th, 2008 in Japanese Products | Comments Off

Fuel cell cars are the car of the future.

It's because the cars are always in the future and never in the present.

Japan Steel Works and Tohoku University may be on to something that will bring the future a bit closer.

The two have developed a matchbox-sized storage tank that can hold 9 liters of hydrogen.

The tank is just 4cm x 6cm (1.6" x 2.2").

The amount of hydrogen the tank can hold is 43% more than a comparably sized chunk of lanthanum nickel alloy, the current best way to store hydrogen.

Japan Steel Works hopes to have a practical version within three years.

The company is also working on a tank to supply the hydrogen for a fuel cell car.

The tank will be able to store 3.6x more hydrogen. A 90-liter tank will fuel a car for 650km (400 miles) and weigh less than half, 100kg, (220lb) than the current 220kg (484lb) versions.

The fuel cell car has taken a giant matchbox-sized step closer to reality.

Will the fuel-cell car always be the car of the future? 

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