Epoch-making technology drives electric cars without new and expensive infrastructure.

Technology developed in Denmark forms the core of a new concept for electric cars, one that requires no plug-in charging or battery-change at a charging-station to run.

This vehicle gets electricity from a fuel cell, which via a chemical process transforms the energy in a mixture of water and methanol into electric current. The result is a driving- and usage-experience very close to what we know from today's gasoline vehicles, but with a level of CO2 emissions that is up to 70 percent lower than today.

“We give the motorist an environmentally-friendly alternative, without any need to give up the gasoline auto's well-known convenience. With our technology you can drive more than 500 kilometers on one tank of fuel, so there's no need to change your habits,” says Jesper Toft, who is CEO of Metha Energy Solutions.

“We are coming forward with a concrete, environmentally-friendly solution, because we use methanol as an energy source for fuel cells instead of hydrogen. Methanol is something that can be distributed the same way as gasoline. There is therefore no need to invest billions in a new energy infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen.”

It is therefore possible for auto-manufacturers the world over to develop electric cars and bring them to market without having to wait on the drawn-out installation of a new infrastructure, and at the same time it is easier to convince the consumer that he can switch to an electric car with no worries, since that has close to the same characteristics as cars today, but with a much lower level of CO2 emissions than gasoline- or diesel-powered cars.

In the same way, this fuel cell technology requires no enormous investments in battery-charging systems, or in cumbersome and risky storage systems for hydrogen.

“We have no need to wait for auto manufacturers and legislators to come to an agreement on a common industrial standard for vehicle battery systems and chargers. Only when they have agreed will the business world be ready to invest in the new infrastructure. And that will take years before such an infrastructure and distribution systems are sufficiently meshed-together for electric cars to be useful in practice for everyday needs,” says Jesper Toft.

He believes that this new technology has itself removed a whole series of barriers that up until now have lain in the way of commercially-viable electric cars.

Metha Energy Solutions' partner, Serenergy, has already realized this concept with a Fiat Scudo as vehicle-prototype, with an electric motor, fuel cells and methanol in its tank. This prototype has been developed in cooperation with Lithium Balance, Cemtec and Aalborg University (Denmark). The secretariat of the Danish energy agency, EUDP, has supported the development of this test-vehicle.

For more information www.methaenergy.com