Monday 21 February 2011

University hails electric vehicle breakthrough

A North East engineering business has launched a new way of extending the range of electric cars and cutting carbon emissions from existing vehicles.

The technology has been developed by Inova Power in conjunction with the University of Sunderland.

Inova claims that the innovation will significantly enhance the distance capabilities of electric vehicles, in turn overcoming a major barrier to their commercialisation.

Inova's system extracts hydrogen from water with the ability to revolutionise the development of electric and hybrid vehicles. The hydrogen produced can also be used in conventional engine powered vehicles.

Inova managing director Mark Nailis said: "The partnership we have struck up with the University of Sunderland has allowed us to harness the talent in this region to produce a process which can have far reaching effects across the globe.

"Hydrogen is capable of delivering zero emission transport and embedding renewable energy into the transport network. Work to generate hydrogen has been done in the past, but while some are unsafe and others leave a residue, our process uses waste products to cleave hydrogen from water cleanly and safely."

He added: "The hydrogen produced in our process can be used as carbon free fuel not only for powering vehicles, but for a wide range of other energy applications such as, portable power systems for mobiles, laptops, home heating, refrigeration, air-conditioning and power supplies for the military."

Adrian Morris of Sunderland University's Institute of Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice said: "This is a revolutionary system for on-board hydrogen generation and battery charging, and marks a significant step forwards in our understanding of hydrogen as fuel for the automotive industry."