A few days ago I posted a blog entry about DaimlerChrysler’s fuel cell police vehicle (supervisor’s car), which has rolled out in Michigan. Well, now I have been reminded that there is an actual hydrogen police car that has been making the rounds in the U. S. as well.
A company called Hydrogen Vehicle Systems (HVS) has retrofitted a 1998 Crown Victoria police car as a flexi-fuel, bi-fuel automobile that can run on gasoline, natural gas or hydrogen gas. HVS modified the Crown Victoria by adding a 5,000 psi tank, a new onboard computer and a bank of hydrogen injectors that feed directly into the car’s intake manifold.
This H2 police car is being used as a demo vehicle to show how simply internal combustion engines can be modified to accept compressed hydrogen as a fuel source. The inscription on the side of the police car reads, “To Protect and Serve Our Environment.”