"drainage" of fuel cell vehicle?
The fuel cell vehicle is driven by the energy released from a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. In chemical equation, the reaction is described by:
2H2 + O2 --> 2H2O ...(1)
The right side of this equation is H2O, meaning that the fuel cell vehicle discharges water of quantity same as the consumed hydrogen.
One day I wondered "how much of water does a fuel cell vehicle discharge"?
Here this post is the answer to myself on this aspect.
![h2o-from-fc-vehicles](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_1024,h_952/https://lenemas.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/h2o-from-fc-vehicles-e1646642876371-1024x952.jpg)
"MIRAI", developped by Toyota Morter, is one of the commercially available fuel cell vehicle.
According to the website by Toyota Morter Corpoation, MIRAI of the grade G "Excecutive Package" can drive for 152 [km kg-1][1]. By taking the inverse, we learn that MIRAI requires 6.6 [g] of hydrogen molecule to drive for 1 [km]. Because the molecular mass of hydrogen and water molecules are 2.0 and 18, respectively, a fuel cell vehicle generates 59 [g] of water after a drive of 1 [km].
By the way, the volume of hydrogen tank is 141 [L], which can store approximately 5.6 [kg] of hydrogen.
Hence, with a tank full of hydrogen, a fuel cell vehicle can drive for roughly 850 [km] in total (5.6 [kg] * 152 [km kg-1])
The discharge of substantial ammount of water is a unique issue of fuel cell vehicle...? No, the same is true for gasoline-powered vehicle.
Next post calculate the drainage of water by gasoline-powered vehicle.
References
- トヨタ自動車株式会社, "燃費(燃料消費率)はどれくらいですか?", https://faq.toyota.jp/faq/show/4914?site_domain=default (accessed on 2022/02/01)
- トヨタ自動車株式会社, "水素満充填にはどれくらいの燃料代がかかりますか?", https://faq.toyota.jp/faq/show/4930?site_domain=default (accessed on 2022/02/01)