USA and Europe have spent tens of billions of dollars over more than a decade on fuel cell car research . These include GM, Ford, BMW, Daimler-Chrysler, Honda and other leading brands. Institutions like Joint Research Centre, Juelich are actively engaged About 70 hydrogen filling plants exist world- wide i.e. in USA, Europe,Japan The Challenges • The fuel itself- high- mileage, low pollution, cheap, available in plenty, low volume, light • Its storage without loss • Its storage in reasonable amount (At present a car ran 550 kms on 11 Kgs of hydrogen) • Safety considerations Dependence on Research in Other Fields • To store hydrogen, cryo- storage techniques are needed • This demands very high surface to volume or surface to mass ratio. • This means very small, nano- sized, particles are needed which would facilitate efficient adsorption of hydrogen e.g. material (Pt- coated C) developed provide 150- 300 m sq surface per gm.
