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Automotive Industry

GM's real-world European fuel cell adventure

Automotive Design & Production, July, 2004 by William Kimberley

In what has turned out to be highly fortuitous timing, General Motors conducted a 38-day, 10,000-km endurance run for fuel cell cars in Europe at a time when the price per barrel of oil was going through the roof. Starting from Hammerfest, Norway, and finishing in Lisbon, Portugal, the traveling circus visited 14 countries to promote the hydrogen message. In addition to driving the cars on public roads along the entire route to prove their worth to the public, this event, almost as importantly, enabled Larry Burns, GM vice president for Research, Development & Planning, to do what he does best: Use his considerable persuasive powers to advocate the benefits of the fuel cell vehicle to government ministers, politicians, decision makers, the media, students, and anyone else who is prepared to listen.

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The "HydroGen3" fuel cell cars used in this event are the third generation of vehicle that first saw the light of day in the spring of 2000. Since then, the range, power, packaging, and overall refinement have improved beyond recognition. The vehicle is powered by a 60-kW/82-hp electric motor, which the fuel cell supplies with electrical energy. It accelerates the five-seater from 0 to 60 mph in around 16 seconds and has a top speed of 100 mph. The German company Linde provided a mobile fuel station to keep the vehicle supplied with hydrogen during the marathon distance.

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"Within just a few years, we have succeeded in turning fuel cell technology from a pure research subject into a practicable system," says Burns. "The HydroGen3, with its compact vehicle architecture and its proven performance, is the visible evidence of this."

As always, though, it is the question of infrastructure and problems of refueling rather than the vehicles themselves that are the principal issues. Burns, though, is optimistic: "Over the last 18 months things have changed very favorably. We surveyed how hydrogen can be conveniently available to customers in the U.S. and said that if you wanted to have hydrogen stations in the 100 largest cities in the U.S. such that a person is never more than two miles from one, and also had them located every 25 miles on the freeway system, how many would you need? It turns out that the answer is around 11,700. Whether it is a natural gas reformer at a station that already has natural gas coming through it, or natural gas converted to liquid hydrogen at a central site and then trucked, we estimate it will cost around $1 million per station.

"To put this $12-billion or so into perspective, the Alaskan pipeline cost $8-billion to install in the mid-70s, which equates to $25-billion today. So for half the cost of the Alaskan pipeline you can have hydrogen conveniently available to 70% to 80% of the population of the United States. This means that the infrastructure is not a major barrier in our judgment, and we're pretty encouraged by this. The numbers came in pretty similar to Europe, as well."

For this to happen, though, Burns recognizes that it is going to need the support of governments to provide the stimulus and, in some cases, funding. "Many governments ask us what can they do to help, and many have learned over the years that taking a top-down technology-forcing regulatory approach probably isn't the right way. There is a growing understanding that we need energy alternatives to petroleum, and that with economies continuing to grow, we need to get away from our 98% dependence on petroleum in transportation. Governments can provide a really important role in guiding the collective will and helping get the players together.

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"Research and development is another very important role and for governments to have a comprehensive strategy for, rather than one that is random. We are encouraging them to take a program approach to R & D rather than to support a bunch of separate projects that are not related to each other. They need to understand what is going on with things like fuel cell stacks, electric drive, material research, and hydrogen storage solutions. We also believe that they should provide leadership on harmonization and standards."

The automotive industry is not alone in developing fuel cell technology. The average person is going to encounter it in something more simple and utilitarian, such as a cell phone or laptop computer. "These sort of items will be powered by something equivalent to a battery. A small charge of either methanol or hydrogen will be plugged into the device to run a fuel cell to create electricity to power the appliance. Not only will it have a longer life [than a battery], but the recharging time will be eliminated." The big advantage, says Burns, is that it will help boost consumer confidence in the technology and understand it.

"The next play will likely be stationary applications and what we call 'distributed generation.' This is because there is also a real market out there with companies willing to pay $500 to $1,000 per kilowatt to have really reliable sources of power--they simply can't afford to have any interruption." Financial trading houses are firms in this category.

Automotive Industry

GM's real-world European fuel cell adventure

Automotive Design & Production, July, 2004 by William Kimberley

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