I don't know about you, but when someone says "Hydrogen Hybrid" I immediately get this image of the Hindenburg and someone screaming, "Oh the humanity!". A little dramatic, maybe - but seriously how safe is hydrogen technology? I decided to find out what people far more scientific than me thought.

The Mazda Corporation has announced plans to increase domestic production of hydrogen-electric hybrids by a full 15%. Mazda hasn't released full plans but intends to increase production and focus on green vehicles as a major product beginning in March 2008.

The Army is even going green. MSNBC reported that the U.S. Army's vehicle research center is partnering with a private company to fuse technologies, converting a Ford Escape Hybrid to run on hydrogen instead of gasoline. The idea is to start using hydrogen with internal combustion engines because the alternative, the hydrogen fuel cells - is still cost prohibitive.

So how safe is this technology? I decided to dig around and see what testing has been done and what I could find out.

The U.S. Department of Energy actually had my initial Hindenburg question on their website. And here is their answer. "In general, hydrogen is neither more nor less inherently hazardous than gasoline, propane, or methane. As for the Hindenburg, a recent study found the paint used on the blimp's skin was to blame since it contained the same component as rocket fuel. An electrical discharge ignited the skin. While the hydrogen gas used to float the blimp did ignite, it burned upward and away from the people on board and actually provided a slow, safe descent for those who stayed on board."

And I found some interesting data that Honda had conducted crash tests on hybrids with hydrogen fuel cells at varying speeds and impact angles. The hydrogen fuel cells are hydrogen packed under pressure - however the there was no fire or explosion in a single incident in these test impacts. Nissan has done similar testing with the same results.

Okay another scenario, someone is at the pump filling up their vehicle and they forget to put the hose back up and drive off with it still attached to their vehicle. According to the development team at Honda, human capacity for making mistakes has been factored into the design of the commercial pumps already. The filling hose is designed to detach and seal in the event that the driver speeds away while still attached to the station. and extra electrical grounding will prevent static discharges and there will also be hydrogen leak detectors installed with an automatic venting system to prevent potentially explosive build ups of the gas.

I'm definitely feeling better about hydrogen hybrids by a long shot - but I think the technology is still clearly in its infancy. Getting away from our dependence on oil is a big push forward. Do you think hydrogen is the right direction to go for automobiles? Leave a comment!

Labels: buy a hybrid, hybrid, hybrid vehicles, hybrids, hydrogen, hydrogen hybrid