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BANGKOK: It's clean, green and uses the same technology used to launch the Space Shuttle - a daily run-about which fills up at any water tap, and produces zero toxic fumes.
It may not be available for sale yet but in Thailand, a hydrogen cell prototype is making that dream a step closer.
The Thai inventor of the prototype has joined the ranks of advanced car makers with his own hydrogen fuel cell car, which is poised to give the electric car a run for its money.
Air Marshal Morakot Charnsomruad, chairman of the Clean Fuel Energy Enterprise, said: "The battery and the fuel cell are green, alternative energy but the battery can only run about three or four hours. Batteries take twice that amount of time to charge, contain lead and can leak acid."
Right now though, the cost of a hydrogen powered car is a prohibitive factor – they are about US$150,000. But proponents like Air Marshal Morakot said that if the hydrogen cars were to be produced on a larger scale, the price could drop by half.
Thailand's chemical industry along the Eastern Seaboard also has the capacity to produce large quantities of hydrogen to support such a project.
Nichapa Yoswee, managing director of Reed Tradex, said: "Hydrogen cars - if you talk to a lot of automobile, car producers - it will be a future, future, future technology, but we believe that hydrogen is a true future technology. It has to be known now. It's our job to educate the industry."
The car drives well and 10 kilogrammes of hydrogen would get one from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, while a kilogramme would be enough to run around the city.
The hydrogen powered car's only waste product is water. Unlike fossil fuel, hydrogen is so abundant - it is all around us.
The prototype of the hydrogen car will be on display at the Manufacturing Expo 2009 in Bangkok - a clear signal that Southeast Asia's auto-hub is keeping abreast at the forefront of technology.
- CNA/yb
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