Hydrogen dilemma

It's a chicken-or-egg scenario when it comes to emerging fuel-cell technology that allows automobiles to be powered by hydrogen and emit little more than a trickle of water from the tailpipe.

Manufacturers need to commit funds to mass-producing the vehicles, but hydrogen fueling stations to fill those vehicles also are needed.

A push to set up a hydrogen fueling infrastructure has been in development in California for more than four years as car manufacturers lease out test-model vehicles.

Hydrogen vehicles are much better for the environment than gasoline-powered vehicles. Hydrogen vehicles have zero harmful emissions, said Robert Friedland, president and chief executive officer of Proton Energy, which makes equipment that derives hydrogen from water.

Companies ranging from Honda to Mercedes-Benz have been developing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles for years with the goal of creating a zero-emissions vehicle that can operate in all climates and reduce dependence on petroleum-based fuels.

California has led the charge, having set up public/private partnerships in a state that now has a hydrogen highway. Manufac-turers are leasing and testing about 250 fuel-cell demonstration vehicles in metropolitan hubs ranging from Los Angeles to the Bay Area.

California Air Resources Board spokesman Dimitri Stanich said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked his organization to help set up a hydrogen highway system, but the trajectory of that executive order has been evolving Advertisement away from a long string of hydrogen stations down the coast toward a new plan that would place them in concentrated hubs.

California Fuel Cell Partnership spokesman Roy Kim said California currently has 26 hydrogen fueling stations that can service a fuel-cell vehicle. The vehicles are filled up with hydrogen gas and use a fuel cell that employs a chemical reaction to derive electricity.

It's almost like a little power plant, and the byproduct is water, Kim said.

Kim added that the cars have a smaller battery than a traditional electric car. The battery can serve as a buffer to store electricity during certain driving conditions, but the main propulsion unit is the fuel cell, which creates electricity as long as it's being fed pressurized hydrogen gas.

The gas stored in the vehicle's tanks never loses its stored

energy.

The main difference between an electric and a fuel-cell vehicle is the former stores energy in a battery while a fuel cell constantly creates electricity with a chemical reaction.

Kim said fuel-cell vehicles emit only a small amount of water from their tailpipe, not enough to affect road surfaces, and he noted that some vehicle designs also would circulate the water back into the system as a coolant.

The possible effect on road conditions is a concern that the manufacturers have taken into account, Kim said.

He said manufacturers are seeking to meet standards that would allow fuel cell vehicles to be fully functional in temperatures as low as minus-20 degrees, which is why he said they are often tested in places like British Columbia and Rochester, N.Y.

As for the specifics of fuel mileage, that's still being worked on, according to Kim, but the California Fuel Cell Partnership provided information showing fuel cell vehicles are two to three times as efficient as conventional combustion engine vehicles.

Honda's Web site boasts that its new FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle has twice the driving energy efficiency of a standard compact hybrid-electric vehicle and three times the efficiency of a compact internal combustion engine vehicle fueled solely by gasoline.

The Clarity is being leased for about $600 a month in a limited release, mostly in California.

Kim said major auto manufacturers working with the California Fuel Cell Partnership have reached a consensus that they will target 2017 as the year to introduce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the market. Projections from the partnership estimate 50,000 will be sold nationwide, with 80 percent of those for markets in southern California.

On the other side of the country, Wallingford, Conn.-based Proton Energy Systems has announced plans to develop a privately funded network of hydrogen fueling stations along the East Coast through sister company SunHydro.

SunHydro leaders have said their company will produce hydrogen gas on site at their stations using solar power and water. They say the energy it takes to produce a kilogram of hydrogen is comparable to the amount of energy needed to produce a gallon of gasoline.

According to these executives, most fuel cell cars will need four to six kilograms to fill the tank, and a full tank will have a range of 300-plus miles. SunHydro President Michael Grey said he has confidence that the building of stations on the I-95 corridor from Florida to Maine will make original equipment manufacturers more inclined to produce fuel-cell vehicles and consumers more likely to buy them on the East Coast.

As automakers work to reduce the price tag of fuel-cell vehicles an aspect widely considered to be one of the biggest hurdles in getting them onto car lots some have taken to a hybrid approach, integrating the use of hydrogen power into existing cars.

Tai Robinson, president and chief engineering officer for Intergalactic Hydrogen, said his company already is retrofitting standard internal combustion engine vehicles to run on hydrogen.

He said his multifuel vehicles can run on everything from standard gasoline or natural gas to hydrogen and propane.

The entrepreneur also said multi-fuel vehicles could help bridge the gap until more hydrogen fuel stations are introduced.

They're the best of all worlds...it works in today's infrastructure, but creates the demand for more hydrogen stations. What works today paves the way for tomorrow, Robinson said.

McClatchy-Tribune