Hydrogen or Hybrids | Green Energy News

January 4, 2004 – Vol.8 No.41

HYDROGEN OR HYBRIDS?

Honda has announced further details of its new fuel cell that can operate in sub-freezing weather - a must have attribute if hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are to become viable products. Billions of people live in sometimes-chilly climes.

Honda’s fuel cell will start up in temperatures as low as minus 4 degrees F (minus 20 degrees C). The company also says the new fuel cell is more efficient, easier to manufacture (which would bring costs down) and is recyclable.

Honda also announced its next hybrid - a V-6 Accord (in the U.S. market) that uses version of the same Integrated Motor Assist used in the Civic Hybrid and Insight. As an added feature, one that will push the fuel economy envelope for the Accord into the mid-thirty mile per gallon range, a technology Honda calls Variable Cylinder Management, that will shut off 3 cylinders at cruising/highway speeds, will be part of package.

With the V-6 and the Motor Assist, Honda expects the 2005 Accord’s performance to match its highest-powered conventional version of the car.

So, with fuel cells making strides, hybrids making strides which shall it be?

A new report from the New Rules Project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, argues that while governments are gung-ho to build hydrogen economies, there may be a better-faster-cheaper way to bring the same results: focus on hybrid vehicles that could be fueled with biofuels - ethanol, bioethanol (from grasses, tree waste, etc.) or biodiesel.

The report, A Better Way to Get From Here to There: A Commentary on the Hydrogen Economy and a Proposal for an Alternative Strategy, claims that the hydrogen solution is too long-term and expensive whereas the technology for bio-fueled hybrids is here today and could easily be commercialized.

The report also discusses the possibility that hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) become plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). That is, for added efficiency the battery in the PHEV could be recharged from the grid and a larger on-board battery pack would allow electric-only driving for local travel.

The paper also says that the development of stationary fuel cells, such as those for residential power, should be continued as they are a good decentralized power solution. Visit New Rules at http://www.newrules.org/

Editor’s Note: In proof that the concept of part-time electric only driving for local travel would work, ENECO, a U.K. developer of hybrid vehicles and fuel cells, has built a 32-seat bus that can operate in an electric-only mode for 6 -8 miles to cut pollution within congested areas.

The bus, which recently drove a record-setting 300 miles non-stop, is soon to go into production with 16 orders already. It uses a Volkswagen turbo-diesel for power generation. Feasibly it could run on biodiesel.

And similar, though inverse, capabilities will be available from DaimlerChrysler later this year. Its Dodge hybrid pick-up truck will include a plug-in connection to allow the vehicle to act as an emergency or work site generator. Visit ENECO at http://www.eneco.co.uk/ .