Cars powered by a cheap, efficient and plentiful fuel that produces no emissions… it’s not a dream but a near reality. The key is the hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle. Nissan is not alone in developing the FCV, but the company has been at the forefront of the technology for more than a decade and has been leasing FCVs to customers since 2003.

For the past five years, specially modified versions of the Nissan X-TRAIL powered by hydrogen fuel cells have been in use in Japanese cities and have also been undergoing real-world trials in Canada and the United States

Nissan’s aim is to have a fuel-cell vehicle in full production and on sale in North America and Japan during the first half of the next decade, with sales in Europe following shortly afterwards.

The principle of the fuel cell was discovered as long ago as the mid 19th century. It works by catalysis, separating the component electrons and protons of the reactant fuel, and forcing the electrons to travel though a circuit, converting them to electrical power. Another catalytic process takes the electrons back in, combining them with the protons and the oxidant to form waste products such as water.

A typical FCV is driven by motors powered by the electricity generated on board by the fuel cell stack, using hydrogen as the reactant and oxygen as the oxidant. Performance is augmented by batteries which are used as an extra power source when accelerating. Energy generated under braking is stored in the battery.

Storing enough hydrogen on board a vehicle to provide a sufficient driving range has been one of the key problems facing engineers since serious development of the FCV began. While hydrogen is a highly efficient fuel with excellent energy density by weight, it has poor energy density by volume meaning it requires a larger tank to store the same amount of energy as petrol.

One solution has been to store the hydrogen under high pressure, with the first X-TRAIL FCV storing the fuel at a pressure of 350 bar. For the current FCV, a new storage system has been developed which compresses the hydrogen to an even higher pressure of 700 bar. This allows about 30 per cent more hydrogen to be stored in the same size tank.

Certified for use by the High Pressure Gas Safety Institute of Japan, the new tank has an inner aluminium liner and an outer layer of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (C-FRP). The C-FRP layer uses a high-strength, high elasticity carbon fibre weave with a special winding pattern designed to withstand high pressure.

While the new high pressure tank helps to improve the FCV’s range, the biggest boost to its performance comes from a new fuel cell stack, developed in-house by Nissan.

The generation of hydrogen itself is an issue. The cheapest and easiest way to create hydrogen is from natural gas, but this process creates CO2 as a by-product. Alternative renewable methods include generation of the gas via solar energy but this, currently, is costly and relatively inefficient.

And there needs to be a comprehensive infrastructure of hydrogen refuelling stations available to all if we are to be weaned away from the internal combustion engine. This is beyond the remit of the car manufacturers and needs joint action from energy companies and local and national governments.

One thing is for certain, however, the fuel cell vehicle is on its way.