Companies Vie To Bring Fuel Cell Powered Autos to Market
Auto exhaust emissions are the largest single source of air pollution
in the world, especially in urban areas, says James Cannon, author
of a recent study of hydrogen as an energy carrier in transportation.
Hydrogen as an energy source could be produced in "virtually
unlimited quantities" from renewable sources, Cannon points
out, and its use would yield almost no pollutants. This potential
has set off a ferocious competition among the world's auto makers.
Front Runner
Farthest ahead is Daimler-Benz which unveiled a fuel cell-powered
six passenger sedan in May 1996. The Mercedes-Benz NECAR II can
travel more than 62 miles per hour and has a range of 155 miles.
Its 300 fuels cells take oxygen from the air, mix it with hydrogen
to produce an output of 50kW. The hydrogen is carried in pressurized
gas cylinders on the roof.
Daimler-Benz has said the hydrogen will eventually be replaced
by methanol which can be stored in a standard car fuel tank; a
gas-generating system would produce hydrogen in the car directly
from the methanol. Although this reaction would produce carbon
dioxide as a waste by-product, it is only a fraction of the amount
produced by the internal combustion engine.
Helmut Werner, President of Mercedes-Benz, has said, "The
fuel cell is no longer a technical gimmick. It offers superb prospects
for automotive application in the next century and beyond."
For several years, Daimler has been working closely with Canada's
Ballard Power System, Inc. of Vancouver to develop fuel cell systems
for buses, vans and now passenger cars. In February 1996, Ballard
won a $6 million contract from Georgetown University of Washington,
DC for a 100 kW fuel cell to power a 40-foot bus.
Other Competitors
Shortly behind Daimler, in the fall of 1996, Toyota announced
that it had developed Japan's first fuel cell electric vehicle,
based on the RAV4L, powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries.
The energy conversion efficiency of this 5-door vehicle, like
that of other fuel cell-powered cars, is over 60 percent, two
to three times that of internal combustion engines which lose
more than 80 percent of their energy as waste heat. The only by-product
is water vapor; there are no hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, nitrous
oxide or CO2 emissions.
Volvo and Volkswagen have begun developing a fuel cell vehicle,
as have Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, and Renault. Belgium, Canada,
Ireland, Italy, Norway, Saudi Arabia are also actively pursuing
hydrogen power projects.
United States Role
While the US pioneered the development of fuel cells, Robert
Rose, director of Fuel Cells 2000, has noted that it has lost
the lead in fuel cell vehicles, and some have said is at least
four years behind. Although US spending on hydrogen development
has grown dramatically since 1990, increasing 10-fold, the US
expenditures in 1995 were $10 million, surpassed by Japan's $23
million and Germany's $12 million. The Department of Energy's
concept vehicle is scheduled for the year 2000 with a prototype
to be built by 2004. But the US is at a disadvantage, says Patrick
Takahashi, outgoing president of DOE's Hydrogen Technical Advisory
Panel, because energy prices are low. Hydrogen will not become
competitive unless the price of oil doubles, he predicts.
Half of US air pollution regulated under Federal law and 32 percent
of CO2 emissions implicated in global warming come from autos.
"The actions US policy-makers and business leaders take now
will determine the role the US will play now in the energy systems
of the future," Cannon has said. Fossil fuels produce about
23 billion tons of toxic emissions year (as opposed to only 12
million tons of pollutants from more often vilified tobacco),
T. Nejat Vesiroglu, president of the International Association
of Hydrogen Energy, has stated. Economic damage worldwide &emdash;
to the health of humans, plant and animals &emdash; from fossil
fuels amounts to $2.7 trillion, he noted.
But establishing a hydrogen-based transportation system will
probably take several decades, according to Cannon, and in the
meantime natural gas, a fossil fuel with substantial advantages
over oil-derived fuels, could ease the transition. Natural gas
already powers 750,000 vehicles in the world and would dramatically
reduce air pollution, with less carbon monoxide and toxic air
pollutants, fewer hydrocarbon and CO2 emissions, less nitrous
oxides than gas.
3 Hydrogen Technological Modes:
-
in internal combustion engines
-
in fuel cells for electric vehicles
-
in a hybrid combination of engines and fuel cells with electrical
storage systems such as batteries.
The hydrogen electric hybrids, combining on-board engines that
generate power with electrical systems that store power, have
possibly the greatest market potential. Demonstration models are
lighter, smaller, more versatile and yield better performance.
A decade of research could lead to a variety of vehicles fueled
by hydrogen, performing as well or better than today's vehicles
with much less impact on the environment. Support could come from
a shift in investment away from nuclear or fossil fuel research.
Veziroglu asks the fossil fuel companies to make long-term plans
to phase out their marketing of fossil fuels and replace them
with hydrogen, initially manufactured from fossil fuels , then
with nuclear energy, eventually with renewable energy. We should
make a conversion to a full hydrogen energy system in an orderly
and planned way as fast as possible, he pleads. "We need
fossil fuels to be saved for future generation's chemical raw
materials."
Article List | back:
BP Chief Speech | proceed:
Solar Energy
