Is there still a future for hydrogen-fueled fuel cell cars?

Is there still a future for hydrogen-fueled fuel cell cars? Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles, electric vehicles or EVs, gasoline powered engines all come to mind when we think about a clean energy future. Let's find out where hydrogen fits in the mix with the many all electric cars and hybrid electric vehicles offered by car manufacturers.

Dear EarthTalk: Not long ago we were reading a lot about hydrogen’s role in a clean energy future, with cars transitioning from gasoline-powered engines to hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Where does hydrogen fit now in the mix with electric cars now coming on so strong? -- Amanda Jenkins, Troy, MI

It is true that just a few years ago everyone was talking hydrogen fuel cells as the future of petroleum-free automotive transport. Fuel cell cars can run on infinitely renewable hydrogen gas and emit no harmful tailpipe emissions whatsoever. A 2005 Scientific American article bullishly reported that car company executives “foresee no better option to the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle in the long run.” Likewise, the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggested, also in 2005, that some 30 percent of the global stock of vehicles—700 million cars and trucks—could be powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2050.

But high development costs and implementation hurdles have kept fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) out of the mainstream for now. And in the face of competition from a new crop of all-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles lately, some analysts wonder whether the fuel cell’s future is as bright as once thought.

That’s not to say the technology isn’t impressive, and still potentially very promising. The concept was first developed by NASA some five decades ago for use in space travel and has since been implemented in a wide range of other mobile and stationary power applications. In an FCV, a stack of fuel cells under the hood converts hydrogen stored on-board with oxygen in the air to make electricity that propels the drive train. While automakers have been able to make fuel cells small enough to fit in and power a conventional size car or truck, the price per unit is high due to the need to incorporate expensive, cutting edge components. And the lack of widespread demand precludes cost-saving mass production. Also, the lack of hydrogen refueling stations around the country limits the practicality of driving a fuel cell vehicle.

According to Richard Gilbert, co-author of the book, Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil, another big issue for hydrogen-powered fuel cells is their energy inefficiency. Creating hydrogen gas by splitting water molecules via electrolysis ends up using up about half of the energy it creates. Another half of the resulting energy is taken up by the conversion of hydrogen back into electricity within fuel cells. “This means that only a quarter of the initially available energy reaches the electric motor,” reports Gilbert. (Making hydrogen by reforming natural gas is also highly inefficient and relies on a fossil fuel from the get-go.) Such losses in conversion don’t stack up well against, for instance, recharging an electric vehicle (EV) like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt from a wall socket—especially if the electricity can be initially generated from a renewable source like wind or solar.

But FCVs aren’t dead in the water yet. A few dozen Californians are already driving one of Honda’s FCX Clarity fuel cell cars. A $600/month lease payment entitles qualifying drivers to not only collision coverage, maintenance and roadside assistance but also hydrogen fuel, available via a handful of “fast-fill” hydrogen refueling stations. General Motors is part of an effort to test FCVs and implement a viable hydrogen refueling infrastructure in Hawaii, currently one of the most fossil fuel dependent states in the U.S. The Hawaii Hydrogen Initiative aims to bring upwards of 20 hydrogen refueling stations to Hawaii by 2015. Other efforts are underway in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

CONTACTS: IEA, www.iea.org; Honda FCX Clarity, www.automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity.

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com).

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GOP To Detroit: We're Still Not That Into You

The 2012 Presidential campaign has already started, and yes, it looks like the bailout of the auto industry could end up being one of many points of debate.

Chrysler's earlier-than-expected repayment of $7.5 billion in federal loans—on top of a recent strong financial performance from GM [NYSE: GM]—have seemingly energized the Democrats to pump out a round of attack ads against leading GOP candidates who spoke out against the bailouts.

The video below, part of that new "what were they thinking" outrage, is paid for by the Democratic National Committee, recaps positions taken by Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Tim Pawlenty.

For Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whose father was governor of Michigan as well as the top executive at American Motors, the matter is a bit personal, too. So it was all the more surprising that the Republican took such a hard-lined position in a 2008 New York Times Op Ed, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

Yet Romney and others continue to use opposition to those loans and other federal loans as a campaign point, advocating a free-market system free of bailouts and subsidies and pointing out that even after looking at the economic effects further downstream, it still looks like the bailout came at quite a cost to taxpayers.

But as food for thought: What would have happened had we let Detroit go bankrupt? And why weren't smaller companies or so-called Main Street businesses (such as dealerships, even) offered bailouts? What if we'd done something more aggressive along those lines? Taxpayers, tell us what you think.

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Is there still a future for hydrogen-fueled fuel cell cars?

Is there still a future for hydrogen-fueled fuel cell cars? Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles, electric vehicles or EVs, gasoline powered engines all come to mind when we think about a clean energy future. Let's find out where hydrogen fits in the mix with the many all electric cars and hybrid electric vehicles offered by car manufacturers.

Dear EarthTalk: Not long ago we were reading a lot about hydrogen’s role in a clean energy future, with cars transitioning from gasoline-powered engines to hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Where does hydrogen fit now in the mix with electric cars now coming on so strong? -- Amanda Jenkins, Troy, MI

It is true that just a few years ago everyone was talking hydrogen fuel cells as the future of petroleum-free automotive transport. Fuel cell cars can run on infinitely renewable hydrogen gas and emit no harmful tailpipe emissions whatsoever. A 2005 Scientific American article bullishly reported that car company executives “foresee no better option to the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle in the long run.” Likewise, the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggested, also in 2005, that some 30 percent of the global stock of vehicles—700 million cars and trucks—could be powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2050.

But high development costs and implementation hurdles have kept fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) out of the mainstream for now. And in the face of competition from a new crop of all-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles lately, some analysts wonder whether the fuel cell’s future is as bright as once thought.

That’s not to say the technology isn’t impressive, and still potentially very promising. The concept was first developed by NASA some five decades ago for use in space travel and has since been implemented in a wide range of other mobile and stationary power applications. In an FCV, a stack of fuel cells under the hood converts hydrogen stored on-board with oxygen in the air to make electricity that propels the drive train. While automakers have been able to make fuel cells small enough to fit in and power a conventional size car or truck, the price per unit is high due to the need to incorporate expensive, cutting edge components. And the lack of widespread demand precludes cost-saving mass production. Also, the lack of hydrogen refueling stations around the country limits the practicality of driving a fuel cell vehicle.

According to Richard Gilbert, co-author of the book, Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil, another big issue for hydrogen-powered fuel cells is their energy inefficiency. Creating hydrogen gas by splitting water molecules via electrolysis ends up using up about half of the energy it creates. Another half of the resulting energy is taken up by the conversion of hydrogen back into electricity within fuel cells. “This means that only a quarter of the initially available energy reaches the electric motor,” reports Gilbert. (Making hydrogen by reforming natural gas is also highly inefficient and relies on a fossil fuel from the get-go.) Such losses in conversion don’t stack up well against, for instance, recharging an electric vehicle (EV) like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt from a wall socket—especially if the electricity can be initially generated from a renewable source like wind or solar.

But FCVs aren’t dead in the water yet. A few dozen Californians are already driving one of Honda’s FCX Clarity fuel cell cars. A $600/month lease payment entitles qualifying drivers to not only collision coverage, maintenance and roadside assistance but also hydrogen fuel, available via a handful of “fast-fill” hydrogen refueling stations. General Motors is part of an effort to test FCVs and implement a viable hydrogen refueling infrastructure in Hawaii, currently one of the most fossil fuel dependent states in the U.S. The Hawaii Hydrogen Initiative aims to bring upwards of 20 hydrogen refueling stations to Hawaii by 2015. Other efforts are underway in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

CONTACTS: IEA, www.iea.org; Honda FCX Clarity, www.automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity.

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com).

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UAW still focused on transplant factories

Tuesday, Mar 22nd, 2011 @ 2:56 p.m.

Contract negotiations with the Detroit Three may be looming on the horizon, but UAW president Bob Kings says the union remains focused on organizing at least one transplant factory this year.

UAW members are currently gathered in Detroit for the union’s bargaining convention – essentially a meeting to formulate a game plan before negotiations with the Big Three begin this summer – but the UAW hasn’t lost its focus on its goal of organizing at least one transplant automaker this year.

The UAW sent letters to all transplant automakers earlier this year requesting time to speak with plant workers, but the union has yet to comment if it has received any responses. It remains to be seen if the topic will be discussed with UAW members this week.

However, the UAW has an uphill battle on its hands as most foreign auto plants are located in Southern right-to-work states. Automakers like Toyota and Honda also resisted the need to cut workers during the market downturn of 2008 and 2009 – unlike the Big Three – which seems to have earned the long-term support of plant employees.

It’s quest to convert at least one foreign factory could be put on temporary hold, though, as official talks with the Detroit automaker are scheduled to commence in early July.

References
1.’King: UAW moving…’ view

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