I remember Mazda working on a hydrogen powered rotary Miata some 7 or 8 years ago. There's a Popular Science floating around out there with a pretty decent article on what Mazda was planning to do.

In my IC engines class a couple years ago, we talked briefly about the impact that hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen fuel could make in the auto industry. To sum up the lecture, there isn't a good way to store a worthwhile amount of fuel in a safe manner right now. This was 3 years ago. I'm sure things have changed by now.

Mazda binded the hydrogen to some sort of metal hydride solution. In the Miata, the hydrogen fuel tank filled up weighed something like 700 lbs more than the standard gasoline tank filled up. 700 extra lbs in a Miata? Ouch. I don't know about hydrogen solutions using gaseous or liquid hydrogen which would have to be much lighter than bonding hydrogen to metal. I've forgotten my combustion thermo since my job watching our SONET equipment doesn't really require it.

I'll see what else I can dig up...like my engine bible.


Temin

 

Here's one place to start:

http://www.monito.com/wankel/hydrogen.html


Temin