DoE Backpedals, Will Fund Slight Hydrogen Fueling Station Expansion
100,000th Plug-In Electric Car In U.S. Sold Today (More Or Less)
Sometime yesterday or today, the 100,000th modern plug-in electric car was delivered to a buyer... Read More
- #3LEADERBOARD RANK
- 2897ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
- 1945COMMENTS POSTED
Add to circle
Related Photo Galleries
-
Hydrogen Aston Martin Rapide Completes First...
-
Compressed-Air Car Proponents Losing Faith
-
Electric-Car Deliveries? Mercedes-Benz Says...
See more photos »
Also See
-
2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas: First Drive
-
Biobot: Make Breakfast, Generate Biodiesel...
-
Kill (Gas) Bills: Daryl Hannah’s Bio Diesel...
See more video »
It appears that the U.S. Department of Energy has had a change of heart.
Four years ago, then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu was widely known as a skeptic about hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
Last summer, he appeared to relent--and now the DoE has said it will launch a campaign to promote hydrogen fueled cars, tentatively deemed H2USA.
According to a writeup in trade journal Automotive News, the campaign is as much about symbolism and convincing municipalities and the industry that there is support for further tests of hydrogen cars.
The article notes the campaign won't be lavishly funded, contrasting the modest effort to the expansive funding for hydrogen vehicles a decade ago under President George W. Bush.
One of the initiative's tasks will be to advocate for funding and construction of the hydrogen refueling stations that will be needed if Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai bring hydrogen vehicles to market in 2015 or thereafter, as they have said they will.
Those automakers feel that hydrogen-fueled cars are still important as one way to travel with zero emissions without the range anxiety of most battery-electric vehicles today.
Not every global carmaker agrees; Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said hydrogen cars are unviable as a future technology just two weeks ago.
Today, there are likely no more than 200 hydrogen-fueled vehicles operating regularly on U.S. roads.
General Motors has about 25 of its "Project Driveway" Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell Vehicles on the road at any given time, according to Shad Balch, GM's Manager, Environment & Energy Policy and Communications.
"These are the same vehicles we used in the Project Driveway program from 2008 through 2011," Balch said.
"We have a dozen in Hawaii and two in California at the Camp Pendleton Marine base, participating in a Department of Defense program. We're also putting miles on six vehicles as part of a data-driven program by the DoE."
Honda has leased roughly 25 of its FCX Clarity fuel-cell cars to California drivers as well; the mid-size sedan was the first dedicated hydrogen vehicle to be offered to the public when it went on sale in 2008.
First Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle delivery, Newport Beach, Dec 2010
Enlarge PhotoMercedes-Benz has had a fleet of up to 70 B Class F-Cell vehicles operating in northern and southern California since 2011 as well.
While Mercedes-Benz recently partnered with Ford and Nissan on development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, a two-year delay in its plans to offer a production hydrogen car was buried in the announcement.
By the end of 2015, there will likely be 500,000 of more plug-in electric vehicles on U.S. roads.
While that's short of President Obama's ambitious goal of 1 million such cars in 2015, it will outnumber the hydrogen vehicle population by two to three orders of magnitude.
What do you think? Should the U.S. devote Federal funding to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle rollout and infrastructure? And what are the right conditions for these cars to succeed in the market?
Leave us your thoughts in the Comments below.
[hat tip: Brian Henderson]
+++++++++++
Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.
Related Articles
-
Hydrogen Aston Martin Rapide Completes First Racing Lap, Many More To Follow
-
California To Have Up To 70 Hydrogen Fueling Stations By 2016?
-
Aston Martin Rapide Hydrogen Racer To Debut Next Month
-
Hydrogen Stations Soar: 27 New Ones In 2012--Worldwide
-
Follow Us
On Facebook
Most Popular This Week
More »
Tesla Model S Vs Chevy Volt: Owner Compares Electric Cars 
Electric Cars: Eight Important Things Everyone Should Know (But... 
Is Tesla About To Offer Battery-Pack Swapping For Model S? 
BMW CEO To Germans: Get Over Your Angst, Buy Electric Cars... 
Diesel Cars: Six Important Things Everyone Should Know (But May... Find Green Cars
Photo Galleries
More from High Gear Media
- Follow Us
Have an opinion?
But then I think...that makes it a Range-Extended-Vehicle using a Fuel-cell as the extender. But is that really much of an improvement over the Volt?
In the end, I keep coming back to the same conclusion, the E-REV technology gives commuters more benefit for less money than the hydrogen fuel cells.
But if the technology can improve to the point where the similar powered fuel cell is more compact and cheaper than an ICE, I am sure you will see them everywhere...
Daimler has that idea.
Peace
Not exactly... He said "currently". One week before that VW partnered with Ballard, a fuel cell company, to promote their agenda and to promote VW's HyMotion.
Peace
A hydrogen car can be one with a fuel cell or combustion motor of sort. You only need to characterize the burn to be a hydrogen one in the latter. [H2 -- 5-7% to 100% of the combustion charge.]
Therefore, the claimed "two to three orders of magnitude" is nullified.
Peace
Are you saying that because H2 is bound into the more complex hydrocarbons in gasoline that a gasoline car is burning hydrogen?
If it wasn't clear from context, let me say here, what was (clearly) meant was: "...it will outnumber the *hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle* population by two to three orders of magnitude."
Was that not clear?
"Are you saying that because H2 is bound into the more complex hydrocarbons in gasoline that a gasoline car is burning hydrogen?"
Hilarious, John... You are saying "what was (clearly) meant..." on one side, yet interpret "... characterize the burn to be a hydrogen one..." as H2 bound to gasoline (given the combustion charge numbers). To answer your question, no.
"If it wasn't clear from context, let me say here, what was (clearly) meant was: "...it will outnumber the *hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle* population by two to three orders of magnitude.""
The problem lies with trying to make the terms *hydrogen* and *fuel cell* synonymous. An H2 fuel cell car is a subset of the H2 car/vehicle.
"Was that not clear?"
Crystal! :D
Peace
Battery improvement on the other hand, looks very promising with 3x improvement expected to be on the market in a couple of years, and 10x possible in the future. (con't next post)
Electricity distribution already exists, we have it in our homes, and we can produce our own with solar panels. Hydrogen will be available only through big business like your local gas stations.
Once people get on to the idea that having a fully charged battery every morning is more convenient that going to a gas station, and realize that even on long trips, having a meal while your car is charging is not onerous, they will realize H2 is no competition.
H2 distribution will cost $100B +++ and be charged to the taxpayer. There is no need and no rational for a more expensive fuel.
3X improvement in the next couple of years? Doubtful. Envia may have some large improvements, but there is a big difference between some cell tests and a full market introduction.
You are incorrect in suggesting that H2 cannot and will not ever be produced in the home. See http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/04/hprize-20130424.html.
H2 distribution won't be easy or cheap, but it is not necessarily going to be charged to the taxpayer. Interestingly, most of the EVSE in the U.S. has been paid for by the taxpayer but you don't seem to have a problem with it. Double standard?
It's hard to beat EV/battery drive in eff or cost effectiveness when done right. Sadly most of what we get are overweight, over cost and overtech ones instead of the light, aero, medium tech ones we need.
They are much more efficient than the ICE (albeit not as efficient as a battery), and the costs are much higher currently, but the costs are much higher for EVs too because both are trying to play catch-up on an incumbent technology that has a 100-year head start.
An FCV beats a battery in range and refueling times. Until something drastic changes, that's an immutable fact.
Agreed that the current EVs could stand to lose some weight though...
Obviously the electric drive will be run by a battery of some varying size and type.
The debate should be over what source of energy keeps that battery charged.
Wall plug or onboard or both.
Saying hydrogen will NEVER be viable is pretty bold. To many engineers are working to prove you wrong.
I hear batteries will be 3x to 10x capacity some day but yet I don't even see prototypes running around anywhere. Do you? I do see ~200 hydrogen vehicles.
With all the different driver types out there variety will win out.
You can always generate hydrogen at home with a plug in or natural gas generator.
So $100 billion dollars +++ is just a smoke screen to force us to go to the gas
It's important not to try to scare the public unnecessarily, don't you think?
You are wrong about the "every rational comparison" point. Range and refueling times. What say you about those two?
1. The durability of fuel cells is currently being improved every day through research, just like batteries.
2. Currently, we use compressed gas, but that may not be the storage technology that wins in the end. Again, much research being conducted.
3. Lots of waste H2 being produced, H2 can be produced through electrolysis, research into H2 production by algae currently underway.
4. Fuel cells are at least twice as efficient as ICEs, and there are no emissions at the tailpipe, so that's why you use fuel cells and H2.
If that's the case, why are we even talking about another energy source?
Have an opinion?Join the conversation!