What's The Alternative Power?

Automotive Industries,  Oct, 1999  by Ron Harbour

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

For the first time since the 1920s, when early steam-powered and electric vehicles yielded to the internal combustion engine, a real picture is starting to emerge on alternative power systems for the future. Until now, automotive companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to develop new means of vehicle propulsion -- and with good reason Oil is a finite resource that simply will run out one day. And the auto industry is under increasing pressure to reduce pollution by creating cleaner-running cars.

Over the years, attempts to develop pure-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles have not met with great success. Not long ago I drove a fully charged electric vehicle at General Motors' proving grounds and was impressed by the vehicle's power and overall quality. However, no company has yet to make a major breakthrough that can keep an EV running for more than 50 to 100 miles without recharging. And the cost of the vehicle is still prohibitive.

Hybrid vehicles, which combine electric motors and gasoline or diesel engines, also are being developed with some positive results. But hybrids are more likely to serve as a "bridge" from one technology to the next

Then there are fuel cells, which seem to have the backing of everyone from the major automakers to the U.S. Department of Energy. The DOE projects that if a mere 10% of automobiles nationwide were powered by fuel cells:

* Regulated air pollutants would be cut by 1 million tons per year.

* 60 million tons of carbon dioxide now emitted into the atmosphere would be eliminated.

* U.S oil imports would be cut by 800,000 barrels a days -- or about 13% of total imports.

Fuel cells offer the advantages of battery-powered vehicles but can run longer between refuelings and be refueled quickly. Fuel cells that utilize hydrogen as a fuel would be zero-emission vehicles -their sole emission being water vapor. Those running on other fuels, such as reformed methanol, would still produce some [CO.sub.2], making near-zero emitters.

Though fuel cells are still a young technology, and remain expensive, studies have shown that fuel cell automotive engines eventually could be built for about the same price as an internal combustion engine. That's why Ford and DaimlerChrysler have signed separate agreements with Ballard, an industry leader in fuel cell development, and why General Motors is working quietly in upstate New York to develop its own fuel cell technologies. GM also is partnering with Toyota on the development of select alternative-propulsion technologies.

How will automakers react if fuel cell power-plants wind up replacing gasoline engines on vehicles of the future?

Today, almost every automaker produces its own engines and transmissions. These two components alone comprise almost one-third the cost of any vehicle. And the plants that make these components represent some of the automakers' largest investments in manpower and equipment But the fuel cells being developed today share no parts with today's powertrains.

What will happen to the automakers' engine plants if they no longer have components to produce? And who will produce the new fuel cell components?

It also will be interesting to see how automakers control the proprietary technology that goes into the development of fuel cells. Clearly the fuel cell developer will have a great deal of say in future vehicle designs and manufacturing. But automakers aren't ready to give up those controls just yet.

Of course, the integration of any new technology will not take place overnight. Transformation could take 15 to 20 years before any such swing in technology could occur. But if fuel cells prove to be the alternative power source the automakers are seeking, the result will be a dramatic change in what makes a vehicle go -- as well as the type of plants needed to produce them.

Ron Harbour is president of Harbour and Assoc., manufacturing consultants in Troy, Mich.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Cahners Publishing Company
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group