Honda's next-gen home refuelling stations for fuel cells
Designed for home refuelling, Honda's latest Solar Hydrogen Station takes a sizeable leap forward in compactness, simplicity and efficiency.Honda's US R&D operation has rolled out a new solar-powered refuelling station for the hydrogen fuel cell cars in use at its Los Angeles facility.
The company claims this generation of its Solar Hydrogen Station is smaller, simpler, cheaper to produce and more than 25 percent more efficient than the system it replaces -- all while continuing to meet the SAE's highest hydrogen purity standards.
The breakthrough this time round lies in the elimination of the old system's compressor -- its largest and costliest component, and the most serious compromise to the system's efficiency. The new system pulls electrolysis and compression functions previously fulfilled by separate elements into one, care of a new high differential pressure electrolyser. This has allowed the company to reduce the size of other components to make the new station the world's most compact system.
The new unit draws its power from the same 48-panel, 6.0kW solar array as the system it replaces. It uses Honda's own thin-film collectors made up of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS) -- a technology Honda says it chose for its capacity to reduce the CO2 emissions during production compared to its counterparts.
Honda says the new unit will fit comfortably into the average garage and take about eight hours to generate 0.5kg of hydrogen -- enough to fulfil the needs of an average daily commuter in a population that travels about 16,000 km a year in its cars.
By feeding the hydrogen it produces directly into the car's tank, the system eliminates the need for external hydrogen storage, helping maximise the efficiency of the system as a whole. It's also compatible with 'smart' power grid systems, allowing owners to sell any excess power it produces into the grid and helping cut total cost of ownership.
The new unit is the latest in an evolutionary series coming out of the Los Angeles facility since 2001.
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