C.En's 50-kg, 60-liter hydrogen fuel tank provides a range of 600 km.
An Israeli-Russian-German venture, C.En, headed
by Prof. Dan Eliezer, has recently completed a
design and test program that aims at producing a
safe and lightweight hydrogen tank for use in
cars.
One of the biggest technological and economic
challenges delaying the development of cars
operated by hydrogen is the problem of safe and
lightweight storage of hydrogen in the vehicle.
C.En conducted more than 120 experiments over
three years, which demonstrate that it is viable
to store twice the amount of hydrogen than
current solutions, providing a 600-km range with
a 60-liter tank that weighs 50 kg, including the
hydrogen.
C.En's hydrogen tank is undergoing another series
of tests and experiments at the German Federal
Institute for Materials Research and Testing
(BAM), after which it will be presented to the US
authorities and international carmakers. C.En has
written five patents on the basis of the first
set of tests.
C.En employs scientists from Israel, Germany,
Russia, Japan, and South Korea. Moshe Stern leads
the investors group, which includes Shlomo Nehama
and Dr. Ya'acov Sheinin, as well as Korean,
Japanese, and Russian investors. C.En has raised
$10 million to date; the most recent financing
round was held at a company value of $50 million.
Stern predicts that if the results the tests
scheduled for the next six months at a European
laboratory that specializes in hydrogen meet
expectations, they will demonstrate that an
alternative energy source exists for cars,
thereby significantly reducing the world's
reliance on Arab oil.