Hydrogen Powered Sports Car
evawhite on March 10th, 2008
The ‘Lifecar’ it is called, which I am guessing is derived from the fact that we all drink the H in H2O of water. The Lifecar is based on the Morgan Aero-8 roadster developed by a group of UK companies and universities. The project is partly funded by the British government intended I am sure to gain brownie points of the masses in supporting a ‘Green Car’ amidst the country’s energy shortage. The only emission the car produces is water vapor! It is heartening to know such cars in whatever limited production will hit the road at some point.
It is a very attractive looking car. Not for the masses surely but makes a statement to whose have the money. If their sports cars are ‘Green’ then why not maybe their factories?
It is indicated that the car will be quick off the mark, doing 0-60 in under 7 seconds. It promises to have a range of around 400km to a full tank of hydrogen. A lot of care has been taken to ensure the car is light weight by using an all-aluminum chassis. Employment of wooden interiors and seats is no longer a surprise following the wooden car showcased a while back. The car is powered by a bank of lightweight hydrogen fuel-cells also developed by UK defense firm Qinetiq.
Regenerative braking is concept used in normal cars and locomotives to a small extent. In the lifecar they aspire to utilize this latent force to as much as 50%. It is a valiant effort and we hope to see it become a commonality one day.
An interesting quote by Matthew Parkin from the classic sports car company Morgan who are responsible for the Lifecar - “We may have to supply headphones with the sounds of a five litre V8 linked to the throttle pedal!”. It is to say this car is no where as noisy as a regular car, hence the headphones for regular car sounds!.
