Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 10:46:47 -0800
Reply-To: Stuart MacMillan <stuart@COBALTGROUP.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stuart MacMillan <stuart@COBALTGROUP.COM>
Organization: The Cobalt Group
Subject: Was: Optima Batteries, now hydrogen
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Good point, upon closer examination it looks like the venting on my
driver's side box was added on, it is different from the passenger side.
Must have been the PO. All it is is a 1" hole drilled through the top
of the front of the box wall and covered by a sheet metal box with
bottom open to keep spray out. Probably not a bad idea to do this if
you are using a second battery.
Remember, hydrogen rises, so if the lid isn't sealed (don't seal it if
the box isn't vented) it will get into the cabin. The likelihood of it
causing any problems is remote, however.
As a side note, the fact that hydrogen rises in air saved those who
survived the Hindenburg blimp fire in the '30's. The flame burned up,
not out, from the blimp and allowed some to escape. Proponents of
hydrogen as an automotive fuel use this fact as a safety feature for
hydrogen fuel compared to gasoline, which flows out and surrounds the
vehicle with flame if the tank ruptures in an accident.
There is also enough hydrogen on earth (in water) to provide all our
energy needs FOREVER, because it is recycled. Water is broken into
hydrogen and oxygen (solar energy can be used to do this), and when the
hydrogen is burned as fuel the water is re-formed. No greenhouse gasses
like carbon dioxide or nitrogen oxides are formed either. It is the
perfect fuel, but there is little economic incentive to use it since so
much money is to be made from oil, and the conversion costs for vehicles
and the distribution network are large. Only when the economic costs
incurred from the possibility we are changing our climates is factored
in (or we run out of oil) will there be an economic incentive.
And yes, our Vanagons could be easily converted to hydrogen and have
zero emissions, even lower than an electric car (energy used to charge
the batteries is produced from fossil fuels) or the new Honda Insight
gas/electric hybrid, which is where government is pushing the auto
industry.
You would throw away the entire FI system, including the electronics,
gas tank and the CAT and install a simple gas valve "carburetor" along
with a hydrogen tank (which could balance out the now unbalanced Westy
load). Imagine that degree of simplicity (no cold start problems, cold
running problems, vapor lock in hot weather, etc.), and think about
it--no carbon at all in this fuel to contaminate the oil, which will
lead to longer engine life too!
Off soapbox now, this is a topic for Friday!
Davidson wrote:
>
> Stuart,
> My 90 Westy has an auxiliary battery box under the driver's seat... The
> cover does not seal the battery and there is no vent to the outside of the
> van.
> Bill
--
Stuart MacMillan
Manager, Case Program
800-909-8244 ext. 8208
Fax: 206-269-6360
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http://cobaltgroup.com
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