In just a few short years, Scotland Yard detectives will be chasing criminals around London by driving hydrogen cars with bullet-proof tanks. Scotland Yard authorities are taking four Honda FCX hydrogen cars modified for police work from a total order of 70 to be delivered to the Greater London Authority in 2010. The hydrogen cars will be able to withstand gunfire and automobile crashes.
This move by the Greater London Authority is in response to rising gasoline prices and a willingness to cut greenhouse gases and break away from a dependence upon foreign oil. The agency already has 90 alternative fuel vehicles at their disposal that run on a mixture of diesel fuel and vegetable oil. They have ordered an additional 128 of these kinds of automobiles.
Scotland Yard, or the Metropolitan Police Service, as it is called was founded in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel to patrol the street of London. Peel established the police service with just 1,000 officers. Today that number has grown to over 31,000. The hydrogen fuel for several of the 31,000 officers may come from Scotland itself, where giant wind farms are being developed. On the Isle of Unst in the Shetland Islands, development is underway to create such wind turbines that will generate hydrogen for export.
If Sherlock Holmes were solving crimes today, one would wonder whether Watson would be driving the master detective around the Greater London area in a hydrogen car? It’s always interesting to see how pop culture develops around advancing technology and pop culture around the hydrogen revolution will be no different.