Critics of hydrogen vehicles took great pleasure in writing obituaries for fuel cell cars following the Department of Energy’s FY 2010 budget that sought to eviscerate federal support for these programs.  Fortunately, engineers and auto company executives ignored the nattering from these pessimists and pressed ahead with their commercialization plans.  Interestingly, worldwide interest in fuel cells and hydrogen appears to be accelerating.

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General Motors, Honda, Daimler, Toyota, Hyundai-Kia, Volkswagen and Volvo all have reaffirmed their intention to pursue fuel cell vehicles.  Despite all the excitement surrounding plug-in vehicles, they understand that every technology has its limitations.  And if we expect to lower greenhouse gas emissions and provide customers with vehicles that are comparable with today’s internal combustion vehicles, batteries alone will not suffice.  We need fuel cells and hydrogen.  Even California’s Air Resources Board has called on the Department of Energy to reconsider its decision.  They’re convinced that a portfolio approach is the best way to help develop low-carbon vehicle platforms.

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– General Motors recently completed the largest demonstration of fuel cell vehicles by real-world drivers.  This successful endeavor has led to their announcement that commercially-available vehicles will be ready for market by 2012.

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– Honda’s FCX Clarity was named “World Green Car of the Year” and is currently being leased in small numbers in Southern California and Japan.  The Clarity received an EPA certified fuel economy of 72 mpg.  Honda’s head of environmental planning claimed, “A conventional battery-powered car would require a battery weighing two tons to match the range and performance of the Clarity, and it would take hours to charge fully.”  A fuel cell vehicle refuels in about three minutes.

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– Toyota, which plans to have commercial vehicles ready by 2015, released the results of an efficiency test of their Highlander Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle, which is capable of getting 431 miles out of a single tank of compressed hydrogen - more than 100 miles over the DOE recommended metric.  That averages 68 miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent, a 42 mile improvement over their conventional hybrid.

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– Daimler is also moving toward commercial products in the 2012-2015 time-frame, and the company has built over 100 fuel cell vehicles that have accumulated over 2.3 million miles of testing.  The company recently a began small series production this summer of its Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell vehicle with plans to increase to tens of thousands of vehicles.

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Auto industry reporters have reason to be skeptical about overly optimistic commercialization timelines.  That said, the motivation for these companies to continue to spend time, money and effort remains consistent.  Hybrid fuel cell vehicles are efficient, quiet, clean and will provide us with the best means of diversifying our energy feedstocks.

In 1957, two weeks before the launch of Sputnik, Sir Harold Spencer Jones, a British Astronomer, confidently announced that:

“Space travel is bunk.”

Thank goodness we didn’t take his prediction too seriously.

~Bud DeFlaviis, USFCC

In our last post we shared an article in USA Today that implied GM would be cutting back on its fuel cell program, and GM’s response that the company is still fully committed to developing a fuel cell vehicle.  Well, actions speak louder than words, and today GM has unveiled its 5^th generation fuel cell stack, with many improvements that will help create a commercially viable fuel cell vehicle.

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The 5^th generation stack still produces 93 kW output, but is significantly smaller than the 4^th generation stack.  This reduction in size means the stack is now roughly the same size as the EcoTec four-cylinder engine.   More importantly for commercialization, GM has managed to reduce the cost per unit as well.  The fuel cell stack now uses 30 grams of platinum, a reduction of more than 50% from the 4^th generation.  GM intends for the 6^th generation fuel cell stack to only use 10 g of the precious metal.  The new stack also shows improvements in durability, and the company expects the 5^th generation to last 120,000 miles.

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All these improvements show that engineers at GM have yet to hit the wall when it comes to fuel cell technology research.  And the fact that the company has set high goals for the 6^th generation fuel cell stack shows their level of commitment to the fuel cell vehicle.  Alan Taub, Executive Director of Research and Development, told Automotive News, “Technology leadership is one of the pillars of the company.  That is going to remain, and it will probably be emphasized as part of the brand of GM.”

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Recently GM unveiled an electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt, and has stated they expect to have a commercially viable fuel cell vehicle by 2012, highlighting GM’s commitment to a fleet portfolio.  With government regulations on fleet miles-per-gallon, and increased awareness of greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles, GM along with other car companies are going to need  to pursue all pollution reduction  technologies.  The unveiling of the Volt goes to show that GM can carry a vehicle from science fiction, to concept, to production.  I look forward to see what sort of fuel cell vehicle GM releases in 2012.