Spending On Hydrogen | Green Energy News

April 25, 2004 – Vol.9 No.5

SPENDING ON HYDROGEN.

While consumers in the U.S. are waiting in line to buy hybrids, and energy-efficient smart cars are at our doorsteps, the Bush Administration pushes for a hydrogen economy which is years, perhaps decades away.

Consumers seem to be beginning to understand that the environment and reliance on a rapidly dwindling resource (now also under threat of terrorist attack) is something that has to be dealt with immediately, not decades from now.

The U.S. Department of Energy, speaking for the Bush Administration, announced this week the winners of a 5-year $350 million program known as the Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project, part of the President’s hydrogen economy initiative.

The Project is for hydrogen and fuel cell vehicle research, the deployment of fuel cell vehicles and the building of a small hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

The goal of the Project is to study hydrogen as a fuel in real-world driving conditions. There were more than 130 winner/partner companies and organizations which are also expected to contribute to the program to bring the total investment to $575 million.

Generally the award winners were organized as teams. All of the vehicles deployed will be operated by companies and organizations in daily applications and will by closely monitored by team partners. The U.S. Department of Energy is also considered a partner in the Project.

--- Air Products, Toyota Motor Sales USA, American Honda Motor Company Nissan North America, BMW, ConocoPhillips, will collectively deploy up to 65 fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engined vehicles (from BMW). The team will build 24 hydrogen fueling stations in California using hydrogen derived from natural gas as well as renewable sources. Liquid and compressed hydrogen will be dispensed. A public outreach program is included.

On the Web: http://www.airproducts.com/ , http://www.honda.com/ http://www.conocophillips.com/

--- Ford and BP will work together to deploy 30 fuel cell vehicles in California, Florida and Michigan (10 each). To fuel the Florida vehicles BP plans to set up a hydrogen fueling station near Orlando. In Michigan, BP is still considering refueling sites and in California the existing hydrogen fueling station at the University of California at Davis will be used.

On the Web: http://www.ford.com/ (see Innovations), http://www.bp.com/

--- ChevronTexaco, Hyundai Motor Company and UTC Fuel Cells will work together to deploy a fleet of up to 32 UTC powered Hyundai Tucson fuel cell vehicles. ChevronTexaco will build up to six fueling stations with the possibility of one in a Northeastern state to test cold weather operations. In some locations hydrogen will also be fueling stationary fuel cells for power generation.

A hydrogen filling station proposed for AC Transit, the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, will also be used in conjunction with a demonstration program which will operate a fleet of fuel cell powered 40-foot Van Hool buses in revenue service. Those buses were modified by ISE Research for fuel cell power using UTC fuel cells.

On the Web: http://www.utcfuelcells.com/ , http://worldwide.hyundai-motor.com/ (click Technology) http://www.chevrontexaco.com/ (click Newsroom, Press Releases), http://www.iseresearch.com/

--- DaimlerChrysler and BP will work together to deploy a fleet of up to 20 DaimlerChrysler fuel cell vehicles in both California and Michigan

In a separate program also announced, DaimlerChrysler, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and package delivery company UPS will partner to operate a DaimlerChrysler F-Cell fuel cell vehicle on a daily delivery route in Southeast Michigan.

--- Proton Energy has been chosen by Air Products to supply hydrogen generators to the Air Products team and Ballard Power Systems noted that 50 percent of the fuel cell vehicles in the program will be powered by their fuel cells.

On the Web: http://www.distributed-energy.com/ (for Proton) and http://www.ballard.com/