EXPLORATIONS - Fuel Cell Cars

EXPLORATIONS -February 27, 2002: Fuel Cell Cars

By Mario Ritter
VOICE ONE:
This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about a new

American program to develop cars that do not cause pollution.
((THEME)
)
VOICE ONE:
American Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recently announced a new program to develop cars that effectively

use fuel and do not cause pollution. The new energy department program will support research to make a car

powered by a fuel cell engine. Mister Abraham calls the proposed vehicle the “Freedom Car.
”
The energy secretary made his announcement at the Detroit Auto¹ Show in early January. He said the new
“Freedom Car”
project is meant to bring about a change in government policy. Mister Abraham said “Freedom
C-A-R”
stands for “Cooperative Automotive Research.
”

He said using hydrogen instead of gasoline as fuel for cars represents an important step toward reducing
America ’s use of foreign oil. Mister Abraham also said that the fuel cell project will combine government and
industrial investments to develop new technologies.

VOICE TWO:
A fuel cell is not a new invention. It is a device which uses hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air to produce
electricity and water. Sir William Grove² of Britain invented the first fuel cell in Eighteen-Thirty-Nine. Many
different designs have been invented since then.

 

The Gemini and Apollo space ships used fuel cells to create electricity in space.
Fuel cells provide all the electrical power on the American space agency’s Space
Shuttle. The hydrogen used by the fuel cells combines with oxygen to provide all of
the drinking water for the astronauts.

This is the way a fuel cell uses hydrogen to create electricity. Hydrogen gas is
passed over a metal that reacts electrically. The electrons from the hydrogen
separate to form electricity. The remaining part of the hydrogen atom, the proton,

combines with oxygen to form water. This process makes electricity without producing the pollution that is
created when coal, oil and gasoline are burned as fuels.

VOICE ONE:

Researchers say fuel cells lose less of the energy they produce than other methods of making electricity. They
also say that a large number of substances can be used to provide fuel for a fuel cell. Specially³ treated natural gas,
oil and coal all contain the hydrogen necessary to run a fuel cell.

Several companies in the United States, Germany and Canada are developing experimental fuel cells. Yet, most
of these devices are part of a large power station. In these power systems, a central fuel cell makes electricity
from hydrogen gas. Other machines separate hydrogen from natural gas, oil or coal. These fuel cell systems can
be very complex.


((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE TWO:

Hydrogen presents several major problems for those who want to use it to make energy or to power cars.
Hydrogen easily combines with other elements, or itself, to create molecules⁵. Yet, it takes a lot of energy to
release a hydrogen atom from a molecule⁴. For example, electrolysis is the process of separating a hydrogen atom
from an oxygen atom in a molecule of water. In this process, electrical current separates the two atoms, but adds
greatly to the cost of making hydrogen gas.

The Department of Energy lists several ways that hydrogen can be released from some materials. However,
research shows that hydrogen is difficult to separate from complex molecules. The agency estimates that
producing electricity from hydrogen would be about ten times more costly⁶ than burning natural gas.

VOICE ONE:

Fuel cells also present major problems for engineers who design cars. A single fuel cell has to be large, yet can
create only a small amount of electrical power. So, fuel cells need to be combined in a series to produce a strong
electrical current. Researchers have been trying to reduce the size of fuel cells for many years.

Some scientists have used new materials to solve the problem. One fuel cell developed by Bell Laboratories is
very small. It uses specially processed materials to make a very thin fuel cell. However, these thin fuel cells
produce only a small amount of electricity. Experts believe that smaller fuel cells will some day provide power
for devices like cellular⁷ telephones and computers.

VOICE TWO:

Fuel storage is another major problem in designing a car that is powered by a fuel cell. Fuel cell engines require a
large amount of hydrogen to create enough electricity to much too much space. Hydrogen in liquid form can exist
only at extremely low temperatures. A fuel tank in a car to hold liquid hydrogen would need to be very large to
keep the temperature inside it low.

The cost of a car with a fuel cell engine could also be a major problem. Peter Hoffman is head of The Hydrogen
and Fuel Cell Letter. Mister Hoffman supports developing cell energy technology. His estimates suggest that fuel
cell cars would cost at least seventy-five thousand dollars.

VOICE ONE:

Experimental fuel cell cars do exist. The car manufacturer Daimler-Chrysler has developed a fuel cell engine
small enough to use in a car. The experimental car is called the Chrysler Natrium. Its fuel cell engine runs on a
chemical mixture called sodium⁸ borohydride. The fuel cell uses hydrogen in the fuel to make electricity.

However, a hydrogen fuel cell powered by the kind of chemical mixture presents new problems. The new fuel is
not commonly used today. And, the car would produce huge amounts of borax as waste defeating the purpose of
using a fuel cell engine that does not pollute.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE TWO:

The new “Freedom Car”
program is not the first time the American government has supported research to

produce cars that use fuel more effectively. In Nineteen-Ninety-Three, the Clinton administration began a
program to design cars that use less fuel. The goal was to develop a car that uses about three times less gasoline
than current cars.

The government spent about one-thousand-five -hundred million dollars to aid the research. Much of the research
money went to laboratories, universities and government agencies. The New York Times reports that the three
biggest car makers⁹ --Ford, General Motors and Chrysler --received only a small amount of the government
support.


VOICE ONE:

That program failed to produce any cars using less fuel that could be sold. It did develop several new materials
that are being used in cars today. Yet, American vehicles on average do not use fuel more effectively than they
did at the beginning of the program.

Energy Secretary Abraham’s announcement in Detroit, Michigan, of the Freedom Car program officially ended
that effort. In the proposed federal budget for Two-Thousand-Three, the Bush administration calls for spending
one-hundred-fifty million dollars this year on fuel cell research.

VOICE TWO:

Two car companies have successfully developed cars that use regular gasoline far more effectively. The Japanese
car company Toyota makes what is called a hybrid¹⁰ car. The model called the Prius uses both electricity and gas to
run its engine. Toyota has sold more than twenty-thousand of these cars in the United States. In fact, every Prius
ever made has been sold. There is a list of people who want to buy the popular car.

The Japanese car-maker, Honda, also makes a hybrid car that uses gasoline so effectively that it almost meets the
goal set by the Clinton administration. The Honda Insight also uses a combination of a gasoline engine and
electricity created from the motion of the car itself. Both the Prius and the Insight produce much less waste as
well. Toyota says the Prius produces seventy -five percent less pollution than regular cars.

Cars powered by fuel cells would create less pollution than even hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius. However, fuel
cell cars will not appear in the market place for many years, until researchers develop new technologies to deal
with old problems.

((THEME))

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Mario Ritter. It was directed by George Grow. Our studio engineer
was Wagner Roberts. This is Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of
America.

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1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

3 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

4 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

5 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

8 sodium   

n.（化）钠

参考例句：

• Out over the town the sodium lights were lit.在外面，全城的钠光灯都亮了。
• Common salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.食盐是钠和氯的复合物。

9 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。