Imagine driving a car that requires absolutely no gas at all. You may think, “Well, that is probably something you see on TV, or in the distant future.” If you thought that, than you were indeed wrong. Hyundai has broken some pretty impressive technological ground, by becoming the first company to mass-produce a fuel cell vehicle. What is a fuel cell vehicle you ask?
Well, a fuel cell vehicle is a car that replaces gas with hydrogen. The hydrogen mixes with oxygen and causes a chemical reaction, which converts to electricity. When these cars become available at dealerships, they should have Bill Nye the Science Guy do the commercial, explaining how scientific the engine is while giving one of his wacky demonstrations we all loved.
This is also a car Al Gore would appreciate, due to the fact that the only emissions this car produces, is water. Don’t you want this car already? Now you may be concerned about how “road worthy” a car that emits water can be. But to ease your worries the fuel cell engine of this car runs at a driving range of 370 miles, with no need to refuel before then. That kind of fuel efficiency is something that Hyundai cars are used to having
The fuel cell idea has been around for a long time, but it is just now being mass-produced by Hyundai. The fact that this type of car is now being mass-produced is a big step toward the future. Imagine one day getting these cars to the public, where gas prices will no longer be an issue, and the air would be emissions free. 1,000 of these fuel cell vehicle are due to be built by 2015 to be made available for fleet vehicles in Europe. After this, Hyundai hopes to get these cars out to consumers, as well as develop a better more efficient refueling network.
This gets me excited about the future of cars. Hopefully one day we will “fuel” our cars with garbage, like Doc Brown did in Back to the Future. The technology is out there, and the great minds at Hyundai Motors are working hard with their eyes set towards the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hyundai becomes the first to invent the flying car someday.
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