Daihatsu has been selling its super-compact Kei class vehicles in Japan for some years, but has had limited success moving into other markets with them.  The small Japanese automaker, which is partly owned by Toyota, was also badly hit by both the earthquake and nuclear meltdown that followed it.

Not to be dissuaded, however, the company has presented a new Kei class concept called the shoCase as a vehicle to promote what Daihatsu sees as the future of automotive fuels: hydrazine.

The shoCase is a fuel cell vehicle using hydrazine rather than pure hydrogen (H2), which eliminates many of the problems associated with straight H2 fuel cells (HFCs).

Conventional fuel cells use combustible hydrogen, highly acidic electrolyte membranes, high-cost platinum catalysts, etc.  Daihatsu was reversed the process and is using an alkaline (non-acidic) anion exchange fuel cell which eliminates the acidic problem and with it, the need for platinum as a catalyst – replacing it with several options in inexpensive metals like cobalt or nickel.

The fuel is hydrazine hydrate (hydrogen and nitrogen mixed), Daihatsu was able to achieve an output density of 0.50W/cm2, which is comparable to a normal hydrogen fuel cell while still emitting only water with the addition of nitrogen – neither of which is polluting.

Hydrazine hydrate, as the name suggests, is a liquid fuel, making it easier to handle for filling and storage.  No compression is required for its high energy density to be used.  While it is poisonous, it is not any more so than gasoline in handling.

Despite this, Daihatsu has gone a step further and developed a polymer that “fixes” to the fuel while in the tank, preventing spills should the fuel tank be ruptured, without hindering fuel delivery to the cells.

While the concept car is probably a fleeting design fantasy, the fuel cell technology is very real and has the possibility of fundamentally changing future fuel cell research and development in a big way.