Cars are
immensely complicated machines, but when you get down to it, they do an
incredibly simple job. Most of the complex stuff in a car is dedicated to
turning wheels, which grip the road to pull the car body and passengers along.
•The
defining characteristic of the Hy-wire (and its conceptual
predecessor, the AUTOnomy) is that it doesn't have
either of these two things.
•Instead
of an engine, it has a fuel cell stack, which powers an electric motor connected to the wheels.
•Instead
of mechanical and hydraulic linkages, it has a drive by wire system -- a computer actually operates the
components that move the wheels, activate the brakes and so on, based on input
from an electronic controller. This is the same control system employed in modern fighter jets as well as many commercial planes.
•There is
no steering wheel, there are no pedals and there is no engine compartment.
•In fact,
every piece of equipment that actually moves the car along the road is housed
in an 11-inch-thick (28 cm) aluminum chassis -- also known as the skateboard -- at the base of the car.
•Everything
above the chassis is dedicated solely to driver control and passenger comfort.
•The floor
of the fiberglass-and-steel passenger compartment can be totally flat, and it’s
easy to give every seat lots of leg room.
•Like batteries, fuel cells have a
negatively charged terminal and a positively charged terminal that propel
electrical charge through a circuit connected to each end. They are also
similar to batteries in that they generate electricity from a chemical
reaction.
•But
unlike a battery, you can continually recharge a fuel cell by adding chemical
fuel -- in this case, hydrogen from an onboard storage tank and oxygen from the
atmosphere.
It fully intends to
release a production version of the car in 2010, assuming it can resolve the
major fuel and safety issues. But even if the Hy-wire
team doesn't meet this goal. Automakers are definitely planning to move beyond
the conventional car sometime soon, toward a computerized, environmentally
friendly alternative. In all likelihood, life on the highway will see some
major changes within the next few decades.
