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This Single Piston Linear Engine Runs on Hydrogen, Needs No Fuel Cells

There is no longer any doubt that internal combustion engines are on the way out the door. Most of us now believe that the doom of the ICE will be the electric cars, with their motors and batteries. But what if something else came along that was even better?
Aquarius hydrogen engine 1 photo
Photo: David Katz
For instance, carmakers have been looking into ways to harness hydrogen as a fuel for years now. There are just a few of them still working on this, but the reality is there are so many obstacles in their path that it’s unlikely humanity will go down this road.

An Israel-based company called Aquarius Engines claims to have found a way around at least one of those obstacles: fuel cells. It’s a technology that has been under development ever since 2014 and whose initial details were made public this week after the completion of third-party tests in the hands of specialist company AVL-Schrick.

As per the info available, the 10-kg (22-lb) powerplant is derived from another of the company’s pieces of hardware, an ICE single-piston linear engine. Unlike that one though, this one can run exclusively on hydrogen.

The exact workings of the technology were not announced (we’ll get back on this when more is known), but Aquarius says the thing can run on hydrogen without having to use “costly hydrogen fuel-cells.”

The engine's new tech is based on a conventional ICE powerplant, only much simpler and incredibly efficient. It comprises far fewer components than a conventional engine, just twenty, and only one moving part, the piston that moves from side to side.

With a cost of just $100 per engine (estimated back in 2016), the Aquarius ICE solution was found in tests to allow a car to travel for up to 1,600 km (994 miles) on a single tank of fuel.

At one point, it was said French carmaker Peugeot was eyeing the ICE single piston engine. The Israeli tech was considered as a range extender, but so far, nothing tangible came to be. Presently, the tech is undergoing testing in several countries around the world.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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