It's not news that Volvo has an electric vehicle. The battery-assisted C30 DRIVe Electric has been available to international customers since late September and Volvo has expanded its research to fuel cells. However, rather than rely on a currently limited hydrogen fueling infrastructure, Volvo is forgoing the usual compressed hydrogen fuel tanks and utilizing a range extender that runs on conventional gasoline. A special fuel converter takes the gasoline and extracts hydrogen gas. The hydrogen is then turned into electricity within the fuel cell and used to drive the C30's 110-horsepower electric motor. The final yields from the chemical process is the electric energy, water, and a small amount of carbon dioxide.
"We have just taken the first steps and it is naturally too early to talk about market introduction of electric cars with Range Extenders," said Stefan Jacoby, Volvo CEO. "The industrial decision will come after we have learned more about fuel cells and the opportunities they offer."
The fuel cell range extender, after burning through an unspecified amount of gas, is expected to supply an extra 155 miles of driving range. The current C30 DRIVe Electric uses a 24-kilowatt-hour battery (22.7 kW-h employed for actual tractive efforts) and is rated for 93 miles through the New European Driving Cycle. With the range extender, these early developmental C30s will have a combined range of 248 miles, which is right in the neighborhood of the significantly more high-profile Tesla Roadster. The company responsible for the hydrogen generator and fuel cell stack is Powercell Sweden AB.
Read More: http://blogs.automotive.com/6723684/concept-cars/volvo-ev-converts-gasoline-into-hydrogen-to-power-battery/index.html
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