China Develops World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Tram

By: | April 13th, 2015

China is the world’s worst polluter, but its continued commitment to renewable energy investment is really appreciable.

China is making significant investments into clean energy developments, and many big companies are working on such projects. One of these projects is the hydrogen-powered tram made by Chinese company Sifang.

More About This Hydrogen-Powered Tram

In place of highly polluting fossil fuels, the engine of this tram runs by burning pure Hydrogen. Hydrogen is great as a fuel as it is incredibly clean, has a high energy density with zero emission, and produces only water vapor.

The tram car takes about 3 minutes to charge, and it can travel 60 miles (or 100 kilometers) on a single refill. This tram has 60 seats and can carry up to 380 passengers. Top speed of this tram is 43 mph.

Can These Clean Locomotives Replace the Polluting Ones?

Although the hydrogen fuel technology is not new – it has been already tried on small automobiles – it has never been tested before on such a large scale.

Major obstacles to widespread use of these hydrogen-powered engines do exist. They are very expensive, and the fuel is highly flammable.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

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