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Malaysian Auto Manufacturer LMG Applies
Hydrogen Boosting Technology
After Hydrogen Boost has been in business for six years marketing
hydrogen boosting technology as an aftermarket retrofit to automobiles, we
have now discovered that a similar technology is for the first time being
offered on production vehicles in Malaysia by LMG Auto.
September 23, 2006 @ 4:07 am · Filed under Cars,
Malaysian Makes, Intl News, LMG Auto
While the company has been pretty much silent in Malaysia
since it’s launch, LMG Auto will be displaying
it’s LMG cars at the 2006 Oman Motor Show. Anyone have any news on LMG?
For those who are out of the loop, LMG recently launched two new cars in Malaysia
- the LMG
Tourer and the LMG
Trekker. Both are powered by a hybrid combination of a Mitsubishi 2.4
liter SOHC engine combined with a hydrogen injection system that they
call Hydroxene, which creates hydrogene from water.
Some of you may remember a piece
of news in July where a team of Universiti Sains Malaysia researches led by Dr Syamsul Rizal Abd Shukor came up with a
way to produce hydrogen in a system compact enough to be fitted into a
car. The system involved using waste aluminium
metal and sodium hydroxide to separate water into it’s
components - hydrogen and oxygen.
While I’m not sure if the new Hydroxene
system in LMG’s new pick-ups and SUVs are based
on the results of this USM research, it works very similiarly.
Click the image above for a larger diagram from LMG explaining how the
Hydroxene technology works. Hydrogen fuel has
been researched extensively by both Mazda with their Hydrogen Renesis engine as well as BMW with their hydrogen
powered V12 7-series, but these technologies never made it into the
production line because of trouble separating hydrogen from water.
Any of you remember the Mercedes
Benz F600 Hygenius Concept I posted a long
time ago? That car ran on hydrogen as well. Where to get this hydrogen
has always been a problem. LMG’s on-board
electrolysis device could be the catalyst to a new generation of fuel
saving hybrids. For now, LMG’s system runs on a
mix of both petrol and hydrogen, but a pure hydrogen system would
definitely be possible. The mixture of petrol and water results in an
effective reduction in fuel consumption of up to 50%. These systems have
been available as a bolt on device before, but this is likely the first
system that comes with a production car.
Note: Hydrogen Boost has had
contact with numerous Malaysia
customers and prospects but it is unlikely that LMG originated their
technology from our contact.
To read more about the LMG Hydroxene technology
and discussion from bloggers go to http://paultan.org/archives/2006/08/15/lmg-tourer-with-hydroxene-technology/
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