Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
original or the most practicable.
Hy-wire was recognized as the Environmental Strategy Concept
Car of the Year by Automotive News. It also has the North American
International Auto Show Eyes on Design award for Most Significant
Design Enabler and Golden Marker Award for Excellence in Design by
Car Styling Magazine.
Hy-wire was awarded Time Magazine Coolest Invention 2002 Award
and AUTOnomy was ranked by Popular Science as the breakthrough
automotive technology of the year in the Best Of What's New issue. Hy-
wire was the world's first drivable vehicle that combined a hydrogen fuel
cell with by-wire technology.
In GM's Hy-wire hydrogen powered concept vehicle, there is a fuel
cell for the power source and electronics replace mechanical parts in the
steering and braking systems. The driver looks through a large, sloped
windshield that covers space usually taken up by an engine. There is
no dashboard, instrument panel, steering wheel or pedals, only a set of
adjustable footrests.
All controls are electronic, the driver twists a pair of handles to go,
moves them to turn and squeezes to stop. The car's fuel cell produces 94
kilowatts of power which is equivalent to 126 horsepower, about the same
as a Ford Focus. The Hy-Wire generates a loud whine while moving and
can travel 140 miles before refueling.
Individual drive motors on each of the vehicle's four wheels allows
a fuel cell powered all wheel drive system. Three tanks hold Hy-wire's
hydrogen fuel, compressed at 5,000 pounds per square inch. These were
developed by Quantum Fuel Systems, the company that developed the
industry's first 10,000-psi tanks, which could allow a fuel cell car to have a
driving range of 230 miles.
Beneath the passenger cabin is an 11-inch-thick aluminum frame that
holds all of the electric motors, microprocessors, mechanical parts, fuel-
cell components, hydrogen tanks and other systems needed to operate
the vehicle. The control wiring is carried in a single harness and permits
designers to locate the operating controls virtually anywhere in the wide-
open interior.
The compact, flat profile of GM's fuel cell which is about the size of a
personal computer frees designers from the structure imposed by making
room for a large internal combustion engine.
GM has provided the U.S. Army with a diesel hybrid military pickup
truck equipped with a fuel cell auxiliary power unit that could become the
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