Chatham wrote:Leo Maximus wrote:I imagine that the standards and crash tests will be the same for cars running on compressed hydrogen as they are for petrol cars with an almost empty tank containing an air / petrol mixture.
They will even be much more advanced (AMHA) so that we can read in the various facts: " the collision was extremely violent, all the passengers died but the 700 bar hydrogen canister is absolutely intact »
We need much stricter standards with hydrogen because:
Even an empty gas tank (i.e. full of vapors) does not explode, (the oxygen level is too low), at least not strong enough to be really dangerous (we are not at the cinema ), on the other hand a tank (necessarily very large or / and multiple) pierced with hydrogen at 700bars (which is much more likely than the outright explosion of the tank) would form an ultra powerful jet (likely to pierce and freeze anyone is on the path) then a cloud of gas + highly flammable air which would form a fireball whose impact on the health of people around may be slightly negative ... moreover a pure hydrogen fire is almost invisible (it is only the combustion of other elements that make the flame visible).
The only tanks to withstand terrible accidents are containers of nuclear elements ... but the weight and cost of such protection is incompatible with an automobile ...
In this case, we must urgently warn Air Liquide, Honda, Peugeot, Renault, Nissan, GM, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes, etc ... that they pose immense danger to all the inhabitants of the entire planet. .
I don't see how the oxygen level in the air would be different for hydrogen, it's the same. Hydrogen mixes very badly with air because it is very light, natural gas or gasoline vapors do not.