Renault presents the advances it has made in its research work on the fuel cells and the direction it has chosen to pursue - the fuel cell with reformer. This technology produces hydrogen onboard the vehicle as it is required, which solves the problem of high-pressure or cryogenic storage of the gas. An additional advantage of the fuel cell with reformer - on which Renault has been working since 2002 as part of the Alliance with Nissan and its partnership with Nuvera Fuel Cells - is that there will be no need to wait for hydrogen distribution networks to be put in place.

A vehicle powered by a fuel cell with reformer will be made of a number of components:

- The reformer turns the liquid fuel into reformate, a gas very rich in hydrogen that is useable by the fuel cell.
- The fuel cell stack, which produces electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen - an electrochemical reaction whose only by-product is water. The water is redirected into the circuit to the reformer, which needs water to operate.
- The electric motor is powered by the electricity which the fuel cells produce once the power converter device has converted it to the correct voltage.
- The multifuel tank. The reformer can also function on petrol, diesel, and ethanol. The tank has therefore been designed to hold different kinds of fuel - an option that will bypass doubts over future shortages of oil. It will also enable motorists to choose a fuel according to its availability or price.



Renault F1 Team Fighting for the 2006 titles and preparing for the future

After securing both the Drivers' and Constructors' crowns in the 2005 Formula 1 World Championship, Renault is looking for further title success in 2006. With three races remaining before the curtain comes down on this year's championship, both titles are indeed within the team's reach but the fight is extremely close. Meanwhile, the Renault F1 Team is also busily preparing for the future.

The 2006 Formula 1 season kicked off on March 12, 2006 with the Bahrain Grand Prix which saw Fernando Alonso claim his first win of the year for Renault. Powered by the RS26 (the first Renaultproduced V8 Formula 1 engine), the new R26 proved both reliable and competitive out of the box. Up to and including September's Italian Grand Prix, the team has finished fourteen of the fifteen races to date on the podium, including seven wins. Fernando Alonso heads Michael Schumacher by two points in the Drivers' standings, while the team is just three points behind Ferrari in the Constructors' points table after topping the championship since the beginning of the year.

Renault has had to ward off a number of threats in the course of the season, including McLaren which proved a force to be reckoned with in terms of outright performance in the early stages of the championship. However, the summer months saw Ferrari fight its way back to become a rival to Renault in the title chase. The Renault F1 Team goes into the final races of the season with a slender advantage that could well prove decisive in the coming clashes which will take it to the championship's finale in Brazil on October 22.

In parallel to the action on the track, Renault has been just as busy preparing its F1 future. This season has seen the arrival of Alain Dassas at the helm of the Renault F1 Team and, on May 14, he announced that Renault would maintain its commitment to Formula 1 until 2012. "The agreement the team has reached with FOA (Formula One Administration) expresses the Renault F1 Team's commitment to Formula 1," he said. "It will guarantee the financial stability and competitiveness of our team and forms the basis for our long-term investment."

Flavio Briatore will stay on as the team's Managing Director until 2008, while Finland's Heikki Kovalainen, 25, steps up from third driver in 2006 to join Giancarlo Fisichella, who was confirmed in June, in the team's official 2007 line-up. The two mainstream drivers will be backed by the Renault F1 Team's new test drivers, Ricardo Zonta, 30, and Nelson Piquet Jr, 21, both from Brazil.

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