Hydrogen Cars Getting Closer, More Affordable; Lack of Fuel Network Threatens

U.S. Trails Asia, Europe in Providing Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure, Automakers Warn

Automakers aiming to meet California's revised Zero Emission Vehicles mandate requirements have pushed the fuel-cell electric car much closer to reality than many realize, according to a report by Bloomberg news service.

Not only is the technology almost ready for prime time, reporter Alan Ohnsman found that automakers such as Toyota, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Renault, Nissan and General Motors now believe they can bring fuel cell vehicles to market by 2015 with price premium of just $3,600 over the average price of a comparable midsized gasoline model.

But the technology and price breakthroughs won't mean much if the U.S. government's infrastructure priorities aren't altered to include encouragement of a hydrogen fueling system

If the U.S. doesn't get moving, it will fall behind Europe and Asia - where governments are actively promoting hydrogen fueling - in the race to replace oil as a motor vehicle fuel, GM and others warn.

"The advances that have been made by the automobile manufacturers are remarkable, infrastructure is the Achilles' heel," Scott Samuelsen, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California's Irvine campus told Bloomberg.

Funding Woes

The federal government has provided more than $10 billion in loans and grants to help develop electric cars, their batteries and a charging infrastructure to keep them running, but the Department of Energy earlier this year tried to kill funding for continued research into hydrogen for automotive applications.

Congress later added most of the money back into the budget proposal, but the sum - $190 million - pales by comparison to battery-electric funding efforts.

Meantime, German and Japan each are planning to have 1,000 hydrogen stations up and running by 2015 to support sales of fuel cell cars.

The lack of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure has long been a sore point with fuel cell vehicle developers.

In the U.S. there are fewer than 75 (the latest federal locator map lists 63, but is not up to date) and many of them are not open to the public.

One state, California, has 26 hydrogen stations according to the federal map, 23 according to the director of the nonprofit California Fuel Cell Partnership. But most are owned by government agencies, universities and test labs and wouldn't likely be publicly available.

Pump it Up

It will take at least 32 public pumps though - installed at or near existing gasoline stations - to support the early consumer market when fuel cell cars start selling in California to satisfy the state's ZEV mandate, said UCI's Samuelsen.  

He figures the cost per pump at $1 million, but Shell, which is building hydrogen pump installations at some of its gas stations, pegged the cost at a minimum of $1 million and a maximum of $5 million each.

The Shell pumps usually include on-site hydrogen reforming equipment to make the fuel by electrolyzing it from water. Natural gas, however, is the most common source of hydrogen today.

GM once estimated that it would require at least 5,500 hydrogen pumps for a basic national network.

Danger in Dallying

Opponents, and there are quite a few, say hydrogen isn't as clean or as energy-efficient as electricity unless it can be made using hydro, solar or wind power and argue that we're better off pursuing battery-electric development to the exclusion of hydrogen.

Supporters, though, see hydrogen as the fuel that lets the U.S. finally cure its dependency on foreign oil  and allows motorists to continue driving free from the constraints of a battery pack's limited range.

We're in favor of both - battery-electric cars for most daily driving and fuel cell cars and trucks for long-distance commuting, cargo-hauling and pleasure driving.

Charles Freese, head of GM's fuel cell program, told Bloomberg that the automaker already has spent more than $1.5 billion on fuel cell research and development and is committed to putting commercial vehicles on the street.

But Asian and European automakers, he warned "have the advantage of partnerships with national governments that are forcing the creation of a [hydrogen] fueling infrastructure. If we don't do the same thing in the U.S., we're gong to fall behind."

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

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John O'Dell October 12, 2009, 10:23 AM

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Alternative Fuels, Daimler, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Renault, Toyota

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Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars, Hydrogen Fueling Stations, Hydrogen Fueling Systems

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