Hydrogen Cars, Vehicles and Infrastructure
Features information on hydrail or hydrogen railway trains including hydrolley (hydrogen trolley) and other H2-powered rail vehicles.
By guest blogger Stan Thompson In 2005 in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the benefit of society a handful of citizens, companies and agencies set about changing the railroad traction paradigm for the first time since 1925 when diesel began replacing steam. The societal benefits being pursued were climate change mitigation; air pollution reduction; and the […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson The Tenth International Hydrail Conference (“10-IHC”) came home to Mooresville, North Carolina, on June 22-23 and it was a resounding success for a number of reasons. Our twenty presenters were a delightful mix of pros from previous IHCs, academics, railroad professionals, VIPs and Brad Read, President of TIG/m, who built the hydrail […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson Dear Google: “hydrail” is really a word, and has been since at least February of 2004 when it appeared in an invited article in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (volume 29, issue 4, page 438). It was used as early as 2003 in an invited presentation at the US DOT’s […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson For ten years now, the Appalachian State University and Mooresville NC originators of the International Hydrail Conference series have predicted, explained and advocated hydrogen railway traction. Now, like a teenager suddenly outgrowing all her clothes, hydrail is coming of age—commercially and with a vengeance! This is the theme of 10-IHC, […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson About 12 years ago, when I first became interested in what’s now called hydrail (hybrid hydrogen fuel cell and battery railway traction), I caught a glimmer of the idea online from Germany in the State of Schleswig-Holstein. Someone there had seen that wireless electric trains could be powered by wind turbines via hydrogen […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson Long before he was honored with with his own automobile brand, Serbian inventor-engineer Niccola Tesla had an annual tradition of predicting on his birthday the future of technology. Lesser lights, including myself, use the birthday of the New Year to make predictions. Here are ten for 2015: 2015-1 The announcement last year […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson By fiddling with his oil faucets and natural gas valves, Vladimir Putin may be having the same unintended acceleration effect on Europe’s diesel-to-hydrail transition that John L. Lewis had on the coal-to-diesel transition in the USA during the last century. Recently I’ve heard two ambassadors from European countries explaining to American audiences what […]
Continue Readingby Guest Blogger Stan Thompson For three days this December, the 8th, 9th and 10th, the University of Birmingham UK will host the 50th anniversary celebration of the birth of High Speed Rail. The blessed event occurred in Japan in 1964 with the opening of Tokyo’s Shinkansen line. Many of the top experts in this most fascinating (and literally “dashing”) element of […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson Since you’re reading this, you already know how indebted the hydrogen community is to Kevin—the originator of this blog—for his role in keeping us up to date with the biggest news about the littlest atom. Today, though, I’m more grateful than ever; Kevin just tipped me off about an article in […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson This update follows much farther behind the wonderfully successful 9th International Hydrail Conference in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany (June 2014) than I had intended. The reason is one I can’t regret: the cast of international players on the hydrail stage has grown so large, and there are so many intertwining plots, that I can hardly keep up […]
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