[Science Report]:Fuel Cell Cars


This is the VOA SpecialEnglish SCIENCE REPORT.

The United States Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, hasannounced a program to develop a new kind of engine to power cars inthe future. Mister Abraham calls the new program the "Freedom Car."The cars will use energy from chemical fuel cells.

Fuel cell technology uses hydrogen to create electricity.Hydrogen gas is passed over a metal like platinum. The electronsfrom the hydrogen separate to form electricity. The remaining partof the atom, the proton, combines with oxygen to form water. Fuelcells create very clean energy with no pollution.

Graphic Image
Graphic Image

However, they need to be verylarge to create enough electricity to power a vehicle. A companycalled Fuel Cell Energy has proposed a fuel cell that also uses acoal-powered device to create power. But this device is very largeand costly.

Experts believe that fuel cell energy will some day provide powerfor small devices like cellular telephones and computers. PeterHoffman is editor and publisher of the Hydrogen and Fuel CellLetter. He supports developing fuel cell energy technology. However,he estimates that a fuel cell car could cost betweenseventy-five-thousand and one-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars.

In Nineteen-Ninety-Three, the Clinton administration began aprogram to develop cars that use about three times less fuel thancurrent cars. The government was to spendone-thousand-five-hundred-million dollars on research. However, theBush administration has decided not to continue that effort.Instead, it will support the program to develop cars that arepowered by fuel cells.

Other kinds of cars that use less fuel are currently being soldin the United States. The Japanese car company Toyota makes thePrius. The Prius is called a hybrid car because it uses bothelectricity and gas to run its engine. It uses less gas and producesless pollution than normal cars. Toyota has sold twenty-thousand ofthese cars in the United States. This new hybrid car has become verypopular. Every Prius made has been sold. In fact, there are notenough of these cars being made for all the people who want them.

Cars with fuel cells would create even less pollution than hybridcars like the Toyota Prius. However, experts say cell cars will notbe ready to be sold for ten to twenty years.

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by MarioRitter.

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