Kenneth Keane welds parts of what will become the frame of the hydrogen-powered car being built at the Engineering School at MU. Keane is the president of the Mizzou Hydrogen Car Team. The team is working on fuel cell technology. (BRANDON KRUSE/Missourian)

The Mizzou Hydrogen Car Team — which until this school year developed MU’s solar car, Suntiger VI — has been working on a street-legal hydrogen car. MU is only the second institution in the nation to do so, said team president Kenneth Keane. The other is the University of North Dakota.

Most major automobile manufacturers are also developing vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Keane said the team made the switch from solar power because of hydrogen’s potential as a viable alternative energy source.

“We know the way technology is going these days and, unless there is a big breakthrough with solar technology, it’s pretty impractical to continue building solar-powered cars,” he said.

Hydrogen carries energy, like a battery. When it reacts with oxygen to make water, the reaction produces energy. That energy is then harnessed to run automobile engines.

What makes the process difficult is turning the water back into hydrogen and oxygen for re-use. The method to do so, called electrolysis, is simple enough, but because electrolysis requires energy to work, an outside source of energy is needed.

Proponents of hydrogen technology say centralized production would keep air in cities cleaner and would produce less pollution overall.

However, producing hydrogen still requires fossil fuels and creates air pollution. The pollution comes from hydrogen production plants, not individual vehicles, and therefore would be easier to control because the emissions wouldn’t be concentrated in cities.

Other technologies are being developed to replace the fossil fuels needed to produce hydrogen, such as solar, wind, water and nuclear power. None of these approaches is economically feasible yet.

“One of the troubles we have is finding a fuel source that has as much energy potential as fossil fuel,” said Rick Whelove, director of undergraduate studies for mechanical and aerospace engineering and the adviser for the hydrogen car team. “So, we are not going to see these energy sources really emerge until fossil fuels are really gone.”

Hydrogen fuel technology has been in development for over a decade, but it was given a push in January 2003 when President Bush announced the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative in his State of the Union address. The initiative gives $1.2 billion over five years for the “research, development, and demonstration of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies,” according to the initiative’s Web site.

Much of the work has been undertaken by the Department of Energy in cooperation with private organizations. Their goal is to have practical, affordable hydrogen vehicles available to the public by 2020.

The members of the MU team understand the need for public awareness and hope the car will spark people’s interest in the hydrogen fuel technology.

Mechanical engineering students are in charge of putting the car together. They are using a variety of steel alloys to build the car’s suspension and chassis and a specialized foam to mold and finish the frame.

“Right now, the mechanicals are all about design, design, design,” Keane said.

Before a tool is touched, the “mechanicals,” or mechanical engineers, use several computer design programs to virtually assemble the car to ensure its practicality and efficiency. The electrical engineers program and wire the car’s circuitry, and connect the fuel cell and battery to the engine. Chemical engineers are responsible for the hydrogen and its use in the fuel cell.

“Our previous solar car projects have included mostly mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering and computer science majors,” Whelove said. “Now that we’re moving to hydrogen power, chemical engineering majors have a large stake in that, too.”

The team’s goal after completion is to run the car at an average of 60 mph for 10 hours on a single tank of hydrogen. Currently, the team has one hydrogen fuel cell, though it is now debating buying a second to make the car run more efficiently.

The first cell, which the team bought themselves, cost about $8,000, and the team is looking for grants and donations to buy the second.

To follow the Mizzou Hydrogen Car Team’s progress or donate to the project, visit http://www.mizzouhydrogen.org.