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- DETROIT (CNN) -- Pumping
gas to power cars with electric motors: that's what drivers in the 21st
century are likely to be doing within the first decade, according to engineers
at General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler.
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- U.S. automakers are working furiously to develop vehicles
for widespread use that are powered by fuel cells -- the same gizmos that
help power NASA's space shuttles.
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- With fuel cells under the hood, Earth-bound drivers would
still fill up their cars, trucks and SUVs with gasoline.
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- Today's internal combustion engines burn gasoline. Little
explosions inside the engine block that occur when the spark plugs ignite
the gasoline make the pistons pump up and down. That turns the drive shaft,
which then turns the wheels that make your car go.
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- In a fuel cell vehicle, the gasoline is used differently.
There are no explosions involved. Instead, the fuel cell extracts hydrogen
from the gasoline and converts it into electricity, which powers the vehicle.
What's left of the gasoline is converted into water vapor -- and, the engineers
say, that's all that comes out of the vehicle's tailpipe.
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- Ford and DaimlerChrysler have unveiled working prototypes,
and General Motors says it's close to doing so.
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- The automakers say they prefer to pursue the potential
of fuel cell vehicles over pure electric ones because the public would
not have to change its time-honored habit of "filling up."
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- Pure electric vehicles require bulky batteries that provide
a driving range of 40-60 miles before having to be recharged. Fuel cells
would let you drive as many as 80 miles on one gallon of gasoline.
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- Now the automakers' goal is to find a way to produce
fuel cell vehicles so they can be sold at a generally affordable price.
Right now, even the most modest fuel cell-powered sedan would cost as much
as $80,000. The intent is to shrink that sticker price to a more widely
manageable $20,000-$25,000.
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