Queue for Fuel Cell Business | Green Energy News

January 6, 2002 – Vol.6 No.41

QUEUE FOR FUEL CELL BUSINESS.

In the wake of the above announcements came technology offerings in support (or not) of AUTOnomy and Freedom CAR.

Millennium Cell would like to see its hydrogen-from-sodium-borohydride Hydrogen on Demand (tm) technology be used as a way to supply hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles.

Teledyne Energy Systems has developed its H2Oasis - Hydrogen Gas Station - a grid-connected, self-contained, hydrogen-from-water-through-electrolysis plant the size of a 40-foot shipping container.

Proton Energy Systems is also developing a grid-connected hydrogen generator known as FuelGen(tm).

But the Methanol Institute thinks that methanol as a hydrogen carrier is still the way to go for fuel cell vehicles. The Institute claims that existing gas stations can add methanol pumps and tanks for $62,400, but hydrogen fueling stations can cost as much as $1 million each.

If pressurized hydrogen becomes the chosen fuel for fuel cell vehicles, other fuels from which hydrogen would be extracted, such as methanol or gasoline, would no longer be players in the fuel-cells-for-vehicles game. These fuels, and related technologies, could however find a home with stationary fuel cell generators or portable devices.

Further, if a hydrogen refueling infrastructure is built it seems likely that it would be made up of a large number of strategically placed grid-connected hydrogen generators. These small generators would be able to fuel one or two vehicles at a time.

And, if the hydrogen-from-renewables vision of Freedom CAR is adhered to, those first hydrogen generators would be installed in parts of the country where renewable power can be purchased from the grid. Drivers might see slogans like Hydrogen from the Wind, or Solar Hydrogen emblazoned on the pump.

Visit Millennium Cell at http://www.millenniumcell.com/ , Teledyne Energy at http://www.teledynees.com/ , Proton Energy at http://www.protonenergy.com/ and the Institute at http://www.methanol.org/ .