You may not be able to buy a hydrogen car to park in your garage just yet (there's a good possibility you never will), but you can build one to put on the stand right next to your Traxxas Slash and HPI Blitz. Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies just began shipments for their H-Cell 2.0, the world's first hydrogen fuel cell hybrid powertrain platform for radio-controlled machines.
Emulating the function of real-scale, zero-emission hydrogen powertrains, the system lets you shed the traditional all-electric power source from any RC kit, replacing it with a hydrogen-based hybrid system (such as the Tamiya TRF416 in the picture). We do mean any RC kit, as it can be set up to run on boats, planes and even robots too.
We're still not completely clear on the installation, but you basically get a fuel cell powertrain with two refillable HydroSTICK cartridges lining up with the two sides of the chassis. Each cartridge carries 10L of hydrogen, which translates to about 12Wh of energy to power the vehicle's movement. It works hand-in-hand with a lithium battery that provides peak power for acceleration and high-speed requests, while the hydrogen system handles cruise power, apart from replenishing the battery throughout its use. According to Horizon, this allows hobby-grade RC vehicles to run with 3 to 4 times more endurance than all-electric versions of the exact same model.
But how do you replenish the hydrogen cartridges? You do it using HydroFILL, a separately-sold, small-scale hydrogen refueling station that can recharge your canisters automatically using water and electricity. They also have a solar panel kit that you can use, in case you don't have a wall plug available (like if you find yourself in the middle of the park).
There's still no pricing for the Horizon H-Cell 2.0, but they'll be doing the trade show rounds beginning June. Expect an actual release very soon.
[Horizon Fuel Cell via Engadget]
