New Fuel Vehicles

One of the show stealers at the recently held Geneva Motor Show was the hydrogen fuel-cell roadster - a zero-emission concept model introduced by British sports car manufacturing giant Morgan. Officially named the Morgan Lifecar Hydrogen Sportster, the Lifecar (a short term for Lightweight Fuel Efficient car) concept involves the fire-brand combination of high performance of a sports car with zero emission at the tailpipe. It commands a top speed of 100 miles an hour and can rise from zero to 60 in seven seconds. Based on Morgan’s Aero 8, this vehicle is a result of a two and half year project costing £1.9m, funded jointly by the government and a consortium that includes Morgan, Qinetiq, and industrial gas specialist BOC Linde.

If we have been obsessed with what might the future hold for cars, it is not without reason. For more than two decades our dreams have been fuelled by possibilities of fuel cell cars which use hydrogen to create electricity resulting in high performance and emission-free vehicles on the road. While Mercedes Benz Chairman Dr Dieter Zetsche is emphatic about the company’s seriousness in producing fuel cell cars, other big players in the industry are cautious about the prospect. If we go by Zetsche’s predictions, the mass production will start in 2010 at an extremely low level in the B Class, but by 2014-15, one could expect economically competitive fuel cell models from Mercedes with an estimated production of 100,000 cars a year.