VOA慢速英语--几家汽车制造商推动提供氢动力汽车的计划

Several Carmakers Push Plans to Offer Hydrogen-powered Vehicles

Several big automakers recently announced plans to keep investing in hydrogen vehicle technology. The plans come even as many industry experts believe the technology faces a major uphill battle to compete against battery-powered electric cars.

Hydrogen-powered cars are also known as fuel cell electric vehicles, or FCEVs. With these vehicles, fuel cells convert hydrogen gas into electricity. This differs from electric vehicles, or EVs, which get their power from a built-in battery.

Last month, the chief of Japan's Toyota Motors, Akio Toyoda, attended a race that demonstrated an experimental hydrogen vehicle. The vehicle contained a traditional gasoline-powered engine that had been converted to run on hydrogen.

Toyoda told reporters at the event such conversions² could keep traditional internal combustion³ engines running in a carbon-free world. This, he said, could avoid the need to completely leave behind internal combustion and save millions of auto¹ industry jobs.

"The enemy is carbon, not internal combustion engines," Toyoda said. "We shouldn't just focus on one technology but make use of the technologies we already possess."

Toyota recently launched the second-generation model of its Mirai hydrogen vehicle and has plans to offer several more models in the coming years.

In Germany, BMW and Volkswagen Group are both developing hydrogen-powered passenger vehicles along with a series of new EVs.

BMW said last month it has developed a hydrogen prototype based on its X5 model in a project partly financed by the German government. Jürgen Guldner is a vice⁴ president who heads BMW's hydrogen car development. He told Reuters the company plans to build about 100 hydrogen test vehicles in 2022.

Officials at South Korean automaker Hyundai have also spoken about the importance of continuing to explore hydrogen-based vehicles along with developing EVs. The company currently sells a passenger fuel cell vehicle called the NEXO.

And Hyundai announced in September it plans to offer hydrogen fuel cell versions for all its commercial vehicles – such as large transport trucks and buses – by 2028.

In fuel cell technology, hydrogen combines with oxygen to produce electrical power. It is considered clean energy because the process only releases water and steam into the atmosphere. This makes the technology a good candidate for helping⁵ the world reduce its carbon emissions⁷.

Currently, however, most of the hydrogen produced worldwide is made using natural gas or coal – both of which cause pollution.

Supporters of the technology expect that to change over time. They say the growing use of electricity from wind and solar energy will be able to separate hydrogen and oxygen in water. Those production methods, however, are more costly⁸.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles can fuel up in minutes compared to much longer charging times required for EVs. But because the technology is so new, very few hydrogen filling stations exist.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars have a driving range of about 480 kilometers, which is much higher than most EVs. But the ranges for EVs are expected to keep getting longer as battery technology improves.

Another major difference is cost. While many EVs currently on the market are priced starting at around $30,000, most fuel cell vehicles start at about $50,000.

Currently, there are about 7,500 hydrogen fuel cell cars on the road in the U.S., most of them in California. That state has just 45 public fueling stations, but more are planned or are being built.

Industry experts say these are all reasons why hydrogen-powered passenger vehicles have a long way to go to effectively compete with EVs. In the United States, the technology is much further developed for commercial transport vehicles, such as buses and heavy trucks. Many large commercial manufacturers, including General Motors, Volvo and Daimler, have heavily invested in hydrogen to power the clean-running vehicles.

Words in This Story

battery – n. an object that provides and stores electricity for things

convert – v. to change the appearance, form or purpose of something

internal combustion – n. a heat engine in which the combustion that produces heat takes place inside the engine itself

focus – v. to give special attention to something

prototype – n. an original or first model of something from which others are copied or developed

emission⁶ – n. the act of producing or sending out something (such as energy or gas) from a source

commercial – adj. relating to buying and selling things

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 conversions   

变换( conversion的名词复数 )； （宗教、信仰等）彻底改变； （尤指为居住而）改建的房屋； 橄榄球（触地得分后再把球射中球门的）附加得分

参考例句：

• He kicked a penalty goal and two conversions, ie in Rugby football. 他一次罚球得分，两次触地后射门得分（在橄榄球赛中）。
• Few of the intermediates or enzymes involved in these conversions have been isolated from higher plants. 在这些转变中包含的少数中间产物或酶已经从高等植物中分离出来。

3 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

7 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

8 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。