Does anyone know what Volkswagen and Audi are doing in this area? Toyota, Ford, GM, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have all demonstrated cars with Hydrogen fuel cell technology. I figure that Audi, as the technology leader, should be doing something interesting in this area. If they aren't then they had better get to it, because all of the others have shown some impressive stuff. If Audi is on the case, then we need to see something which whets our appetites and reminds us that Vorsprung durch technik is a promise and not just marketing psychobabble.
In case you are unfamiliar with fuel cell technology, here's a primer:
The idea is that you burn hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity which is then used to drive an electric motor. Instead of having a single motor that delivers power via a drive shaft, electrically powered motors can be made small enough so that you have one per wheel. The handling benefits are obvious. In other words, petrol engines may die, but quattro lives on. The only waste emission is water.
Most of the fuel cell solutions presented to date have a central electricity generator unit and battery. Hydrogen and oxygen are burned together as gasses not liquids, (safer and easier to store than liquid hydrogen), to create electricity which drives the car via rechargable batteries. All of these things sit within the wheelbase of the car resulting in very equal weight distribution. In fact, the powertrain components of a car will take up much less space, allowing more practical designs.
Fuel cells are definitely the way to go versus other hydrogen power options. One alternative is an internal combustion engines which burns liquid hydrogen. BMW demonstrated a 7-Series in 2000 fitted with an engine converted to run on liquid hydrogen. It was fine except that it needed a specially insulated fuel tank able to store hydrogen in liquid form at -253 degrees. While this prototype was very cool, (quite literally), the fuel tank, developed by NASA cost 20 times more than the rest of the car. Oh, and one other thing, it was extremely dangerous.
Even more advanced solutions reduce the danger of hydrogen stored as a liquid or a gas by storing fuel in a powdered form. When the powder is ignited the resulting chemical reaction releases both hydrogen and oxygen which together generate electricity for the fuel cell.
The only real barrier that remains before this technology is truly marketable and that is battery capacity. Lithium iron for cars will soon be a reality.
What's this discussion doing on RS6.com? It is less than two model cycles from our driveways. Which is why Audi needs to tell us what its hydrogen fuel cell powered model plans are.