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]

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]