A new study by the National Research Council estimates that up to 2 million hydrogen-fueled vehicles could be on American roads by 2020, with that number potentially rising to 25 million a decade later. However, getting there requires getting past a number of hurdles first. The cost of fuel cells must drop and fueling infrastructure must be put in place. That will take substantial subsidies on the part of both government and manufacturers. The study authors estimate that about $200 billion would be required over the next 15 years to make this happen with $55 billion of that coming from governments and the rest from private industry. That total includes costs for vehicle development and deployment, research and development and infrastructure deployment. In contrast, US ethanol subsidies will reach about $15 billion annually by 2020. Beyond 2023, the costs are expected to drop to the point where the lifetime cost of fuel cell vehicles the fuel to propel them would be competitive with conventional vehicles, making subsidies unnecessary.


[Source: National Research Council, via Green Fuels Forecast]

A quick Google search is all that is required to find hundreds of stories of people who claim to have increased their fuel mileage by installing a hydrogen generator which extracts hydrogen and oxygen from water and funnels the gas into the engine. Some of the claims are pretty wild, and the Japanese company Genepax has again lit a fire under the topic of running a car on water. While the Genepax car uses a conventional fuel cell, most of the "kits" available on the Internet introduce a bit of gas into the engine which is then combusted along with the liquid gasoline.

It is, of course, natural to feel a desire to buy into the hype promised by these systems. The truth, though, is that large fuel economy gains are highly unlikely. Popular Mechanics has decided to build themselves one of these systems for testing. The mag intends to install the finished product in an automobile and report back. We're keenly interested in their findings, though we're pretty sure we already know what will happen. Stay tuned.

[Source Popular Mechanics]

Nissan and Renault have already announced plans to start offering battery electric vehicles beginning in 2010 for fleet testing with retail availability a year or two later. However batteries aren't the only technology they are looking at for emissions-free running. Hydrogen fuel cells are also in the picture. Nissan has been testing fuel cell-powered versions of its X-Trail SUV for the past two years with examples leased to Japanese government agencies. Renault and Nissan are now jointly working on a fuel cell version of the Renault Grand Scenic compact MPV.

The Scenic ZEV H2 uses a Nissan-developed fuel cell stack, with high pressure hydrogen storage and lithium ion batteries for recapturing kinetic energy during regenerative braking. All the hardware is mounted under the floor of the vehicle, maintaining seating for five adults. Both the X-Trail and Scenic will be shown at a variety of green events around Europe this year.

[Source: Nissan]

Toyota published a post on their Open Road Blog today officially supporting statements by GM Vice President Larry Burns. At the recent National Hydrogen Association conference in Sacramento, Burns called on the energy industry to invest more in developing a national hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Burns declared that vehicle fuel cell technology works and manufacturers are ready to move forward with commercialization. Unfortunately, they can't really do that without the ability for customers to fuel their vehicles. While many have focused on the cost of building out a network of hydrogen stations, only a small fraction of the current number of gas stations are needed to support widespread use of hydrogen vehicles. There are 170,000 gas stations in the U.S. right now, but only 12,000 stations would be needed to have a station within two miles of 70 percent of the population. Toyota called out the fact that the oil industry earned $123 billion in profits in 2007 alone. Even an estimate of $24 billion - which is at the high end of projections - would be well within the means of the energy industry to pay for a hydrogen infrastructure and it would still leave them $100 billion to play with before they even count up this year's profits. No doubt hydrogen is not the total solution, but it is one part of it.

[Source: Toyota Open Road Blog]

GM isn't the only one ready for a lot of hydrogen fuel cell cars. Daimler chairman Dieter "Dr. Z" Zetsche believes that the technology for fuel cell vehicles is here today and that vehicles using the hydrogen-for-energy system will be available in five to eight years time. Zetsche also believes that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will compare favorably with their competition, which we assume means other alternative powertrains like full-electrics and hybrids. One reason he cites as a fuel cell benefit over electric cars is range, suggesting that hydrogen electrics could travel 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen. One unanswered question, though, is how far will pure electrics be able to go on a single charge in five to eight years time. Still, by refilling a hydrogen tank, the driver gets another 300 miles while it will likely take another full charge for the electric car. Zetsche recognizes that a potential problem area exists regarding the infrastructure that a hydrogen fueling system would require. We remain intrigued by the technology, but recognize that major advancements must be made before jumping on the fuel cell bandwagon. We also believe that other extended-range electric vehicle technologies will allow for many of the same benefits as hydrogen fuel cells.

[Source: Just-Auto (sub. req'd.)]

During a keynote speech at the National Hydrogen Association conference in Sacramento, CA, GM's VP for Research and Development declared automotive fuel cell technology ready. However he said it can't move forward without a supply of hydrogen to feed mass quantities of cars. Between General Motors, Daimler, Toyota, Honda and Ford, automakers have demonstrated that the technology works and is reliable. GM and Honda in particular are working aggressively to create fuel cell designs that can be mass produced at an affordable cost. The latest designs have improved efficiency, durability and greatly reduced requirements for catalyst materials.

At the conference, Burns is stepping up the call for the energy industry and government to start implementing a fuel distribution system. Previous analysis done by General Motors has concluded that supplying upwards of ninety-five percent of the population would only require 12,000 hydrogen stations nationwide. That compares to 170,000 gas stations currently in operation. That number of stations placed at roughly two mile intervals in all the populated areas and twenty-five miles apart on major highways would be sufficient to supply the nation with hydrogen for transportation. The estimated cost of that would $10-15 billion or about 1/3 of ExxonMobil's profits for one recent quarter. Without this investment, the U.S. will get left behind.

[Source: Hydrogen Forecast]

Any future version of the "hydrogen economy," if such a thing ever exists at all, will require massive amounts of technology which has either not yet been invented or needs much more refinement. If you are interested in knowing more about these upcoming technologies, including hydrogen-powered cars, maybe you should check out the 2008 Hydrogen Expo in Sacramento, California. The event started today and will continue through April first (Tuesday). Besides seeing exciting technology such as a fuel cell powered blender and a cybercafe running on fuel cell power, you might be able to drive one of fifteen available hydrogen powered cars. If you're in the area, this event may be worth checking out to see in person some of the cool concept vehicles that you read about on these very pages. Feel free to send us some pictures if you go.

[Source: 2008 Hydrogen Expo]

Click on the image to enlarge

Last Spring, when Suzuki and Intelligent Energy announced their partnership, we wondered out loud if fuel cell powered-motorcycles were in the offing. What we got was a very cool concept bike at the Tokyo Motor Show called the Suzuki Crosscage, which did in fact use IE's Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology. The bike was clearly just a concept, though.

News comes by way of IE today that they have furthered their partnership with Suzuki. Could we finally start to see bikes like IE's ENV on our roadways? "This is an important next step for our collaboration with Suzuki as we move from a very successful concept toward a range of commercially viable fuel cell motorcycles," said Phil Caldwell, director of business development at Intelligent Energy. With those words, we remain hopeful that this investment and collaboration bears water-emitting fruit in short order.

[Source: Intelligent Energy]

The National Research Council (NRC) has finished conducting research into the possibility of powering vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells and other alternatives. Despite mixed reviews, the report suggests that even without ready solutions to quite a number of major issues, taxpayer-funded research into hydrogen "is justified by its potentially enormous benefits to the nation."

Also in the report was a suggestion that too much money is being spent on reducing the cost of lightweight materials, and some of it "should be redistributed to areas of higher potential payoff." Interesting ... like what? Could be plug-in hybrids, which they suggest are not being researched with enough verve. Not surprisingly, the target date being thrown around for hydrogen cars (2020) is now seen as a bit unrealistic; the NRC sees 2030-2035 as a more likely possibility. The question that remains is whether we'll even need hydrogen fuel cells by then, what with battery technology potentially getting good and cheap enough. View the entire press release after the break.

[Source: NRC via Automotive News (sub. req'd)]

click photo to enlarge

Testing fuel cell vehicles is all the rage these days, and Mercedes isn't missing out on the action. The latest hydrogen vehicle tests from the three-pointed star company took place in wintery Sweden. Wouldn't want to coddle a car or anything.

Daimler recently took a B-Class hydrogen car using an optimized fuel-cell system based on the stack in the F 600 HYGENIUS from 2005 through its paces. According to the company, the vehicle worked well in some real world cold situations, was able to hold the road, and in general passed the tests "with flying colours." The road handling issue is extra important, Daimler says, because electric motors (in this case, powered by the fuel cell) don't govern speed the same way as traditional ICEs. Dr. Thomas Weber, Daimler AG board member with responsibility for Research and Development at Mercedes Benz Cars, said the tests showed the drive concept is on the right track. More tests will be done on the fuel cell B-Class in the coming months in preparation for small-series production in 2010. Read more from Daimler after the break

At the Detroit Metro airport today, Ford - along with U.S. Congressman John Dingell - are announcing the delivery of two of Ford's hydrogen-powered H2ICE buses. The special E-450 shuttles burn hydrogen in an internal combustion engine and are already in use in places like Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. Ford has built 30 H2ICE buses and 23 have now been delivered. Ford claims these shuttles offer CO₂ emissions reduction of 99.7 percent (compared to a gasoline-fueled E-450, I'm guessing).

Dingell helped get Ford, the Wayne County Airport Authority and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) a grant from the DOE for the vehicles. Where will these shuttles get their hydrogen? From a pump in Taylor, MI, the town that borders the airport on the east. We'll keep our eye out for these shuttles when we travel to the New York Auto Show tomorrow. Read more from Ford after the jump.

Click on the Equinox Fuel Cell for a high res gallery

In the fall of 2006, General Motors announced plans to launch the largest ever field test of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with Project Driveway. The intent was to build over 100 fuel cell-powered Chevrolet Equinoxes and provide them to regular drivers to use for a period of time in real world conditions so that the company could gather data about the vehicles perform. Everything in the article below applies equally to the Equinox fuel cell and the HydroGen4 which is the re-badged version for Europe. Only the name is different.

Having significant numbers of regular customers drive your vehicles is very different from having engineers drive them. Most importantly, they will tend to see a much wider variation of both road and driver input conditions than you will ever see on a proving ground. When a vehicle is being developed usually at most only a few dozen people responsible for each of the systems, like power-train, brakes, chassis, body, etc., will ever spend any significant amount of time driving them. Those engineers tend to focus on what they know to be the likely problem areas and get those fixed.

Continue reading after the jump

One post with two Vectrix updates! You are lucky readers today, aren't you! We have been doing our best to keep you up to date with Vectrix news, and today we share with you a few details regarding their impending fuel cell scooter. As far as the motor and battery go, all seems to be roughly the same. That means that the scooter has fine acceleration all the way up to its 62 mile per hour top speed. But the range has been extended by the on-board fuel cell to 155 miles. I would imagine that if the battery pack were the same, you might never need the extra capacity of the fuel cell, as you can charge the machine using a standard home outlet.

I would personally say that if hydrogen fuel cells have any hope of hitting the consumer's garages any time soon that it would be as a range-extender. Plug-in electric vehicles are most certainly the most viable option at this time. As consumers are still tied to the idea of refilling their tanks for a seemingly endless range, hydrogen fuel cells might help motivate them to go electric.

Also, The Scooter Scoop has a post up which details Vectrix's roll-out plans including where you can check one out for yourself. If you have any interest in this machine, it's worth a click.

[Source: Jalopnik and The Scooter Scoop]

The plug-in hydrogen vehicle that didn't almost kill President Bush (i.e., the Ford Edge with HySeries Drive) is cruising around Vancouver, Canada as part of Ford's mission to showcase he world's first drivable fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle with plug-in capability. The hydrogen Edge is being displayed on the trip alongside what Ford calls the "most technologically advanced production vehicle," the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid.

You can read more about the vehicle itself at the links below or in the press release after the jump, but if you're in Vancouver and see the HySeries Edge, now you know that this is the first time the concept vehicle has been on the streets in Canada. Anyone catch any pictures?



Related:

• AutoblogGreen Drives the HySeries Ford Edge and fuel cell Explorer
• USA Today test drives the Ford HySeries Edge
• Ford posts video of HySeries Drive Edge

[Source: Ford]

Just yesterday, Sam wrote about the environmental clean-up measures that are taking place in China. These clean-up measures are necessary because China is on the development fast-track, so to speak. The country is being built up at an extremely rapid pace, much like the United States was during the Industrial Revolution. The buildup in China can be seen clearly in Shanghai, as the pollution levels in that city are similar to those found in Los Angeles, California, which happens to have the worst air quality in all of the United States.

China plans to do something about their environmental concerns before it is too late, according to this article from the Detroit Free Press. Might China be the first country to install a hydrogen infrastructure in a city? Possibly, and a date as early as in 2010 is mentioned in that same article. As automakers push forward hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, an infrastructure will be necessary in order to fuel those vehicles. If the target dates of 2010 from companies such as General Motors - which sells lots of cars in China - is to believed, then the 2010 date for the refilling stations would make sense. That is, if you believe the hydrogen as a fuel source makes sense in the first place. Speaking of the General, they have at the very least shown proof that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles could in fact be made, and can travel lengthy distances on a single tank, as Sam witnessed first hand.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]