Qatar is currently the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter per capita. Aiming to change some of that, a research company in Qatar just unveiled a slightly different take on hybrid vehicles, combining multiple technologies.
“Designed and developed in Qatar, the engine captures thermal waste energy that is utilized to generate electric energy to run hydrogen fuel cells using the potable water as a source for the gas,” the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development [GORD] said in a statement.
The new Qatari hybrid electric vehicle [HEV] has an internal combustion engine, battery pack, and hydrogen fuel cell. It runs as a typical HEV, but with a twist. The waste heat from the engine is recovered by thin-film thermoelectric generator on the exhaust.
The electricity then powers an electrolysis device, splitting clean water into oxygen and hydrogen, which can be fed into the fuel cell to produce electricity, or into the engine, replacing the fuel.
A test vehicle was shown at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, the combination of technologies achieving, they claim, over 50% reduction in emissions. Additionally, GORD expects that the electrolysis and thermoelectric devices could be adapted to any modern vehicle without interfering with existing systems.
Hybrid vehicles are becoming more popular, and the reason is simple they have the same performance as the petrol or diesel and cars, and better fuel economy and less pollute the environment, more information can be found on the website http://www.hybridcarsdata.com