CAR TRANSFORMATION TO HYDROGEN (Manousiouthakis, VanVorst)

 

GEM cars are manufactured by Global Electric Motorcars LLC, a DaimlerChrysler Company. They are zero emission vehicles and have a maximum range of 30 miles. UCLA has about 100 GEM vehicles. When loaded, GEM vehicles have been found to have a range as small as 5 miles. Moreover, fully charging them requires 2 hours.

We propose the transformation of a GEM car into a hydrogen fuel cell car, which when ready will be fueled in UCLA’s new Hydrogen Fueling Station.  Appropriate hydrogen storage on board will allow at least a doubling of the vehicle’s driving range, and will reduce fueling time by at least an order of magnitude.  More importantly, this transformation will provide the UCLA research team with an excellent test bed to try new research ideas for fuel cell car design.

According to the GEM car company, the 2005 GEM eL model has a 5HP (3.7kW) electric motor and consumes 0.14 kWh/mi, under normal driving conditions. According to Ballard, the company’s 1.2kW NEXA fuel cell (Appendix D) has a maximum hydrogen consumption rate of 18.5 slpm (0.09 kgH₂/hr), and therefore it generates 13.3 kWh/kgH₂. To attain a 60 mile normal driving range, the GEM will therefore need 8.4 kWh of electrical energy, i.e. about 0.63 kgH₂. Since the density of hydrogen at 340 atm, 25 C is: 0.02292 kgH₂/l, this range will require a 27.5 l storage tank (e.g. two cylinders with a 15 cm diameter and about 80 cm length). 3 NEXA fuel cells (3 X 1.2 kW) will be needed to match the electric motor’s power (3.7 kW). The storage tank’s and fuel cells’ additional weight will be partly compensated by the reduction of the battery pack and the possible removal of the DC charger.