Automakers say they aim to have the first commercially available hydrogen fuel-cell cars ready by 2010. Here, a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle being developed by DaimlerChrysler is driven at the California Fuel Cell Partnership facility in West Sacramento, Calif.
Lawmakers hope to pave the way for a hydrogen-fueled Hawaii
Fuel-cell vehicles are under development in California
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. » With the exception of the various company logos emblazoned on their outsides, most of the cars zipping along the testing grounds at this research and development facility would appear no different from what you might find at a typical auto dealer lot.
But turn the key and it's definitely not your father's Oldsmobile.
Control panel displays are larger and more futuristic. The cars are quieter but ride like any other vehicle of the same class.
The biggest difference is the exhaust -- there isn't any, just a few droplets of water that evaporate on the pavement.
The cars run on hydrogen, and on California roads today there are 146 such vehicles -- including nine buses -- being powered by the first element on the periodic table.
Research and development is spearheaded at the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a collaborative effort of 31 automakers, government agencies, energy companies and technology groups that promote the commercialization of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
While officials acknowledge there are many challenges before the dream of a "Hydrogen Highway" is realized in California, the development is being watched closely by others, including Hawaii energy policy planners.
As part of an overall strategy to reduce the state's dependence on imported oil, Hawaii lawmakers are aiming to set up the islands as a model hydrogen-based economy in the United States.
Initiatives passed by the Legislature and signed recently by Gov. Linda Lingle would establish the Hawaii Renewable Hydrogen Program and set up an investment capital special fund with $10 million in state money.
Because hydrogen fuel can be created by renewable energy sources such as wind, wave and solar power, supporters say Hawaii is the ideal testing ground.
"If it is doable, we'd certainly be the first ones because our energy costs are so much higher than anywhere else -- the economics would work out sooner in Hawaii," said Mitch Ewan, hydrogen systems program manager at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. "We have to develop the natural resources here to have the energy to manufacture the hydrogen."
The state investment fund also will help leverage federal dollars and attract more hydrogen research and development programs to the state, he said.
Currently, there are only two fuel-cell powered vehicles in Hawaii: a 30-foot shuttle bus and a step van similar to a courier service delivery truck. Both are part of the National Demonstration Center for Alternative Fuel Vehicles at Hickam Air Force Base, said Tom Quinn, director of the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies.
"Our role is to develop and demonstrate the technology, and we will continue to introduce more fuel-cell vehicles, as well as other zero-emission or low-emission technologies," Quinn said in an e-mail response to the Star-Bulletin.
The center also is pursuing a four-year federal project to develop a fuel-cell hybrid drive system for a 40-foot transit bus. Additionally, more types of fuel-cell vehicles, at the rate of about one per year, are being developed at Hickam under the Air Force program, Quinn said.
Automakers say they expect the first commercial hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to be ready by 2010, with models hitting showrooms five years later.
Unlike California, which aims to put 300 such vehicles on the road by 2007, there are no specific goals for Hawaii, Quinn said.
"The industry is still in its infancy, and much development work is still required," he added.
Some hydrogen fuel basics
A look at some common questions and answers regarding hydrogen fuel-cell technology.
Question: What is a fuel cell?
Answer: A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that produces electricity without combustion. Hydrogen fuel is combined with oxygen to produce electrical energy.
Q: Where does hydrogen come from?
A: Hydrogen can be found in water, fossil fuels and other sources. It bonds with other elements to form commonly known molecules such as water, methane (natural gas) and methanol. It is produced by unlocking the chemical bonds in the molecules that form these substances. One way to produce hydrogen is to break water apart through a process called electrolysis. In this process, electricity is used in the presence of a catalyst to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen in the water.
Q: How do hydrogen fuel and oxygen produce energy?
A: A Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell is composed of a plastic membrane coated with a catalyst on both sides and sandwiched between two electrode plates. Hydrogen (from a fuel tank) and oxygen (from the air) are fed through channels in the plates on opposite sides of the membrane. The hydrogen and oxygen atoms are attracted to each other, but only the proton part of the hydrogen atom can pass through the membrane to reach the oxygen. The electron has to take the long way around the membrane to reach the oxygen atom -- creating an electric current in the process. The electron is eventually reunited with the proton and an oxygen atom to create water.
Q: Are fuel cells in use today?
A: Yes. In California there are 146 vehicles in use that contain hydrogen fuel cells. There are 23 hydrogen refueling stations, mainly clustered around Los Angeles and San Francisco. Automakers say they expect the first commercial models hitting showrooms by 2015.
Source: California Fuel Cell Partnership
One of the biggest hurdles is getting the fueling stations in place.
California has 23 stations in operation now clustered around Los Angeles and San Francisco, where most of the vehicles are used in fleets for various state agencies, public utilities, universities and private businesses.
In addition to building the stations, a work force also has to be trained to man the equipment and ensure the safe pumping of hydrogen into a fuel-cell vehicle.
"We will undoubtedly piggyback off of California" and its development of hydrogen fueling infrastructure, said Kyle Datta, managing director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a leading alternative-energy policy planning group. "By the time we're ready for it, I think a lot of the hard work on the stations will be done, and it will just be a question of getting them financed and up and running."
In the meantime, work will continue on the development of the fuel cells, which use an electrochemical reaction taking hydrogen, from the fuel tank, and oxygen, from the air, to generate electricity for powering an engine.
At the Fuel Cell Partnership, the goal is to make a cell that can power a vehicle for about 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen -- current cells cover between only 150 and 200 miles. Cells also have to be able to last the lifetime of traditional vehicles, about 150,000 miles.
Because of the inherent limitations of living on an island, Hawaii is perhaps in a better position to benefit from hydrogen vehicles.
"A big Western state is a terrible state to do hydrogen, because everything is spread out," Datta said. "You want small or compact areas where you can get back to where your fueling station is. These islands are pretty good places for that."
But not everyone agrees that a hydrogen highway is the best road to travel. Many critics question the efficiency of hydrogen and the amount of energy needed to create it.
"Hydrogen doesn't exist in a free form, and it takes an enormous amount of energy to make it," said David Fridley, a staff scientist in the Energy and Environmental Division at the University of California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "We don't have the technology even to use it, and we don't have the natural gas as the raw material to make it."
Earlier this month, the European Fuel Cell Forum, a Swiss-based organization chartered to promote innovative fuel-cell technology through technical and scientific conferences, announced it would no longer study the viability of hydrogen fuel cells.
"Hydrogen ... is not a natural fuel, but has to be fabricated by reforming of fossil fuels or by electrolysis of water," Ulf Bossel, head of the European forum, said in a news release. "However, people do not need hydrogen; they need electricity from fuel cells.
"At least one-half of the energy received is lost when hydrogen is converted to electricity with efficient fuel cells. By laws of physics, hydrogen can never win against its own energetic origin."
Planners such as Datta again counter that Hawaii is unlike other states because of its abundant renewable-energy sources.
"Hydrogen has to come from some other form of primary energy, and in our case it's most likely it would come from renewable energy, wind or other forms of renewables," he said. "The reason it's such an opportunity here is we have tremendous renewable resources.
"You need some way to store that energy and bring it back at a time when we need it. ... Hydrogen can be a carrier for that, and we can be on the cutting edge of researching and demonstrating renewable-driven hydrogen fuel-cell power in our various counties and, of course, across the whole state."