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Automakers Try New PR Spin to Bring Hydrogen Cars Back from the Almost Dead
The world's on-again, off-again commitment to commercialize the hydrogen car appears to be on again, with the announcement this week by eight major automakers that they anticipate "a few hundred thousand" of them on the world's roads by 2015.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it will no longer attempt to kill federal funding for hydrogen car technology.
The auto companies – Daimler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Renault-Nissan and Toyota – declared they'll work together to bring the costly car and its fueling stations to mass market, in a new Letter of Understanding.
"We will bring costs to a competitive level, prepare large-scale production and of course continue to work on the technology," said Daimler AG (DAI) Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche in a follow-up statement.
Interestingly, the auto giants gave their Letter of Understanding this title: Automobile Manufacturers Stick Up for Electric Vehicles with Fuel Cell. The fact that they're feeling compelled to "stick up" for hydrogen speaks volumes about the technology's current unpopularity. And note the absence of the word "hydrogen." Analysts certainly have.
That omission – and the use of "electric cars with fuel cells" in its place – suggests an attempt by automakers to spin hydrogen in a way that taps into the soaring approval of battery-powered electric cars. But they'll need more than clever public relations to get the hydrogen car moving.
Hydrogen advances would require support from major governments (money and otherwise) – if not a technological miracle.
The technical hurdles remaining are huge. Developers still haven't figured out how to transport hydrogen across long distances; how to establish an infrastructure of hydrogen filling stations; and how to reduce production costs to anywhere near affordable.
Case in point is Honda's FCX Clarity. It costs a few hundred thousand dollars to make each one. Currently, there are just 10 on road in the U.S. and in Japan.
For its part, the Department of Energy under U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, appears to be losing patience with hydrogen's potential. In the last eight years, the U.S. has spent about $1.5 billion on developing hydrogen fuel cells. But the DOE cut $100 million from the proposed hydrogen budget for 2010, leaving only $68 million for non-vehicle fuel cell research. It wants to focus on more realistic technologies to curb oil use like biofuels and electric vehicles.
Secretary Chu explained further in May:
"We asked ourselves, 'Is it likely in the next 10 or 15, 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen car economy?' The answer, we felt, was 'no.'"
To the DOE's dismay, the House and Senate restored the slashed hydrogen funds in the fiscal 2010 spending bills. And Secretary Chu is now saying he will no longer put up a fight, although the agency will do its best to ensure the millions get wisely spent.
Given the acrimony surrounding H2 cars in America, it seems that a "hydrogen highway" would have a better shot at taking root elsewhere. Which is why the carmakers want to start in Germany.
"The signing manufacturers strongly support the idea of building-up a hydrogen infrastructure in Europe, with Germany as regional starting point and at the same time developing similar concepts for the market penetration of hydrogen infrastructure in other regions of the world, including the USA, Japan and Korea as further starting points," the Letter of Understanding states.
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I am for electric cars, it
I am for electric cars, it may take years before they solve the hydrogen storage and transportation problem and we will have to drive something meanwhile, we all depend on cars one way or another. I don't mind if the electric cars can't perform higher speeds, it would lead to decreasing car accidents number also, after all, excessive speed is the main factor for most of the auto crashes all over the world.
Auto Insurance Agent
don't want any hydrogen-powered cars
So far im ok with electric cars and hybrids, hydrogen is a NO for me because of its cons, though it may be lighter than using car batteries but still it's not worth it.
Also a problem in using hydrogen-powered cars is its availability and its storage, that's why the proposal to have such car was gone to waste.
Any hydrogen rich fuel can power a fuel cell.
I suspect that automakers have realized that electric vehicles have three severe limitations due to existing battery tech:
- slow recharge times
- limited recharging infrastructure
- limited life
A fuel cell that reforms gasoline and/or alcohol solves all three problems.
The hydrogen boondoggle
The hydrogen cars work fine but they still haven't figured out where to get the hydrogen, how to ship it or how to store it.
Natural gas has none of these problems and costs 1/3 as much as gasoline.
60% efficient SOFC fuel cells could be used to make range extenders which would be 6X more efficient than present cars. and twice as efficient as electrics charged from the grid, (which is only 30% efficient).
The hydrogen research money should be redirected to development of natural gas fuel cell hybrids.
http://www.cfcl.com.au/BlueGen/
LIQUID CARBON HYDRIDE for storing H2
Hydrogen can be very efficiently stored as a LIQUID CARBON HYDRIDE, and then H2 can be produced ON DEMAND to supply the fuel cell.
Some LIQUID CARBON HYDRIDES : CH3OH, C2H5OH, C3H8, C4H9OH, C5H12, C6H14, C7H16, and C8H18
Hey wait a minute, those are HYDROCARBONS : METHANOL, ETHANOL, PROPANE, BUTANOL, PENTANE, HEXANE, HEPTANE, and OCTANE.
and GASOLINE happens to be a mixture of the last 3 or 4 (PENTANE - OCTANE).
Producing H2 on demand is a very well known process, it's call STEAM REFORMING. The Oil & Gas industry has been using this process ever since there's been an Oil & Gas industry. 99% of industrial H2 is produced this way.
Putting the REFORMER on the vehicle solves the H2 storage problem.
Put the REFORMER in the fuel cell, as in the case of SOFC, even better...
Hydrogen is a dead end and nothing but a hoax
Sorry, but hydrogen is still a dead-end technology. It is still oil and car companies that are the biggest supporters of hydrogen cars. Oil companies know best that oil is running out. Oil production peaked recently. Its going downhill from now on. Oil companies need to sell something at gas stations once oil is running out. So hydrogen is perfect for them. It's them who own the currently existing hydrogen gas stations. If anyone thinks they can produce your own hydrogen at home, they should think again. It is oil companies lobbying to have those funds restored and get taxpayer money invested in hydrogen related research. And they will make it illegal for you to produce hydrogen at home based on "security concerns". Just wait.
And of course oil and car companies are trying to wait as long as possible before really launching hydrogen as their new favorite fuel. As long as there is money to be made from oil they will hold hydrogen back. That's why there is always talk about fuel cell cars coming to market withing the next 5 years, for the last 20 years... And every 5 years they say sorry, we still need further tax money, the technology isn't ready yet. And here comes the funny part about the scam: They're not lying. It's true. Hydrogen isn't a viable alternative. Not now, and most likely not at any point in the future. But it's the only thing they have.
Now here's what oil and car companies are really afraid of: battery electric cars. These cars can be fueled at home extremely cheap. Even for free from a solar panel on the roof, for example. Good for everyone, except oil companies. And battery electric vehicles are extremely easy to maintain - no oil changes, no filters, pumps, complicated engine etc. to repair. Again good for consumers, bad for car companies. That's why there is no opportunity left out by PR divisions and paid journalists to praise fuel cell cars as saviours and the cars of the future.
The simple truth: when using hydrogen and fuel cells instead of batteries you waste about 75-80% of the original energy along the way of producing, compressing/liquifying, burning/oxidizing (inside the fuel cell) hydrogen - energy that could otherwise be put into a battery, which stores its energy at 95% efficiency. Thus, with hydrogen cars, only 20-25% of the original energy (from power plants or renewables) arrives at the electric motor, which is why hydrogen cars really are huge energy wasters and have nothing to do with sustainability, but with profits for oil-turned-hydrogen companies at gas stations and for car manufacturers through servicing of complicated fuel cell systems (incl. air filters, pumps, heaters, coolers etc.).
Here is one eye-opening example of BEV vs. FCEV technology:
- Mercedes A-Class prototype BEV 1997: 125 miles range (>180 miles with 2004 battery)
- Mercedes A-Class prototype FCEV 2004: 90 miles range
Every government worldwide should really stay out of this non-sense and stop wasting any more taxpayer money. Secretary Chu was wise to slash funding.
The renewed interest in
The renewed interest in hydrogen is not due to public relations gimmicks, but rather to the promising research the last couple of years in making, storing, and using hydrogen. These advances have not been missed by the foresighted business folks who are putting their good money on hydrogen.
Indeed, business investment as of late has outpaced government sponsored research by a hundred fold. Nonetheless, our government needs to stay involved in order standardize the apparatus used to store and transport hydrogen, to coordinate the inevitable hydrogen infrastructure, and to regulate hydrogen safety.
Moreover, our government should stay involved to capitalize on our pioneering research that has gotten everyone else around the globe off the ground. It will be most unfortunate to find ourselves on the outside looking in as others with more foresight reap the fruits of our sweat and tears the last six years.
Even if hydrogen lives up to a fraction of its potential, it will have geopolitical implications, as is the case with all energy. Indeed, perhaps more so, as hydrogen is also a storage medium, much like a battery. For an equivalent amount of electric energy, a tank full of hydrogen is lighter than an array of batteries, and it is also recharged by a quick refill.
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