Hydrogen News

Regions cooperate

Three European regions want to cooperate to become the avant-garde of hydrogen technology in their respective countries. They are the northern Ruhr area (Bottrop, Gladbeck, Marl, and Herten), Grenoble, and Milan. „Hydrogen is the oil of tomorrow“, said Gladbeck's mayor Eckard Schwerhoff. The northern Ruhr area has traditionally a strong competence in energy matters. „This is why must by all means participate in the refining process. We must position ourselves well now.“

The common objective is the uninterrupted hydrogen chain: generation, distribution, and application, the latter mainly in fuel cells. Around the "Blue Tower" at Herten, where hydrogen is made from biomass, a hydrogen competence center will be created. One of the advantages of the region is a 240 km long pipeline which exists since the 30s and transports up to 150 Million Std m3 hydrogen per year. 

(WAZ, 17. December 2002)

Munich

Two new apron buses running on hydrogen and made by MAN Nutzfahrzeuge will be added to the three existing on Munich airport during the second quarter of this year. They are driven by fuel cells, not an internal combustion engine like the existing ones. These buses as well will store their fuel as gas in cylinders on the roof. The cylinders and the other storage system are supplied by Dynetek Europe from Ratingen. The buses in use now have traveled 300.000 km since the middle of 1999.

(Dynetek press release of 20. February 2003; see No. 3/99 „Munich“)

Test site

On 31. January 2003 TUEV Automotive GmbH, member of the TUEV Sueddeutschland, officially opened one of the most up to date test centers for car motors and drive trains in Garching near Munich. The study of H2 combustion engines is possible as well. 25 m3 of LH2 can be supplied from a cryotank. This makes it possible to run customer specific endurance tests over several shifts. The high safety level of the test site makes it suitable for tests of fuel cells or fuel cell drive systems as well.

(Press release of 31. January 2003)

Takeover

The Canadian Stuart Energy Systems Corporation has acquired the Belgian company Vandenborre Technologies NV. The deal has a volume of about 17 M€. Both companies think that they fit together well both technically as well as with respect to their geographical fields of interest. Together they aim at an internationally leading position in the field of water electrolysis.

(Joint press release of 23. December 2002)

Berlin

A first contract for the realization of the Clean Energy Partnership Project at Berlin was signed on 17. December in Berlin by representants of the companies involved and the federal government. The acquisition of building ground and the start of the other building formalities are now possible. For the government the ministries for transport, environment, and economy are partners in the project, while the companies include BP, Ford, BMW, the Berlin transport utility BVG, Linde, NorskHydro, DaimlerChrysler, Opel, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge and Oesterreichische Elektrizitaetswirtschaft AG Verbund.

(Press release of the federal ministry for transport of 17. December 2002)

Motor bike

Mr. Josef Zeitler from Speinshart (Germany) has under the name „AQWON“ presented the world's first two stroke engine motor bike running on hydrogen with TUEV expertise and approval. The engine is based on a conventional 50 cm3 type. Hydrogen is stored in a hydride tank which can be filled up by non-specialists in three or four minutes. The contents are enough for a ride of about 100 km. The maximum speed is 50 km/h, the power output 2.6 kW. With a price around 5600 €, low maintenance costs, and no emissions at all the vehicle is expected to be competitive. Its first public presentation will be on the Hannover Fair. 

(Press release by AQWON Motors of 22. February 2003)

Opel

Opel is now testing the new fuel cell prototype HydroGen 3. Its distinctive feature is the absence of the heave buffer battery. The full volume of the baggage compartment is now available. Most important is that the whole drive train can now be pre-assembled completely. The module with a weight of about 300 kg can be delivered to the assembly line like a classical motor and be mounted just as in the case of the usual "marriage". The motor delivers 60 kW, accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 16 s further up to a maximum of 160 km/h. The ranges are between 270 and 400 km, depending on the tank system. (General Motors press release of 15. December 2002)

In a joint project with the parcel delivery service Federal Express Corporation („FedEx Express“) some HydroGen 3 vehicles will be used in and around Tokyo in normal delivery service between June 2003 and June 2004. (General Motors press release of 17. December 2002)

Barth

Proton Energy Systems has shipped a membrane electrolyzer to the small Baltic town of Barth (Germany) where it will be used for a bus project. The bus will provide zero emission transport in the national park "Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft" and will be operated by a local company from next summer on. The oxygen is supplied to the local sewage plant. 

(see No. 4/02 „Barth“)

700 bar

Under the name Hydrogen 700 Project leading car makers will advance the technology of storing hydrogen gas in cars under 700 bar (70 MPa). The car companies include DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, PSA Peugeot-Citroën, and Toyota. The work will be coordinated by the Canadian Powertech Labs of Canada together with Kokan Drum (Japan). The project includes a test program the results of which will be used as input to international standardization and regulation for such storage systems (ISO TC 197, EIHP). While the storage of gas under 350 bar is already a routine matter, in particular for natural gas, the jump to twice this value is a technical challenge. The advantage is the improved energy density. The project will help to introduce the technology in a coordinated way. 

(Powertech press release of 6. February 2002)

Belligerent

Until the end of this decade the US army will exchange their 30000 light tactical vehicles for modern ones. On 9. January General Motors provided to the army the first prototype of a hybrid truck getting its secondary energy from a fuel cell. The system delivers 5 kW and comes from Hydrogenics. While the vehicle is running on its diesel motor a PEM electrolyzer inconspicuously generates hydrogen and stores it in metal hydride tanks. The latter have only two thirds the weight and half the volume of a comparable lead battery system. When the motor is not running a fuel cell generates electrical power; the by-product water is kept for future repetition of the cycle. This happens without noise and little heat output, which is a definite advantage for certain military activities. General Motors obviously hopes that a customer of this size will help to bring the production figures up the costs down.

(GM press release of 9. January 2003)

Fuel Cells

Marbach

The project of a fuel cell demonstration power plant based on a solid oxide fuel cell with a power output of 1 MW at Marbach / Neckar has failed. The industrial partners agreed upon this in Pittsburgh (USA). But not the fuel cell was the reason, rather the impossibility to find a suitable micro turbine which would have made the realization possible within the given time and cost frame, even though all partners did their utmost. The start of operation was planned for this year. (EnBW press release of 19. December 2002) Solid oxide fuel cells have such a high exhaust gas temperature that a gas turbine can be added to enhance the electrical efficiency up to 65 %.

Small Cell

The company Masterflex at Herten (North Rhine-Westphalia) presented a micro fuel cell with an output of 50 W running on hydrogen. The company is specialized on development and manufacturing of special polymers. This know-how is now used for fuel cell systems, and the hope is that new materials will cause a cost reduction. The state energy ministry at Duesseldorf supported the project with about 580 k€. Experts think that the threshold to economical use will be crossed first in this market segment because there is a great demand for fuel cells which can make laptops, printers, or mobile phones operate without batteries or the grid. Masterflex expects the start of serial production in two years. They hope that by then the problem of refilling the tanks will be solved. 

(Press release of the state ministry for transport, energy, and planning of 15. January 2002)

Japan

The first generation of a pre-commercial cogeneration plant for the Japanese market with a power output of 1 kW was presented on 29. January by Ballard and Ebara Corporation. The development is done in the framework of a common subsidiary. The maximum efficiency is 92 %, of which 34 % is electric. Market introduction is expected for the end of 2004.

(Ballard press release of 29. January 2003)

Energy and Climate

Expensive

2002 and 1998 were the warmest years since we have reliable temperature records. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced in Geneva that the weather has not only become warmer, but also more extreme, as it is obvious from inundations. WMO expects an average surface temperature of 14.5 °C in 2002 after 14.42 °C the year before. The highest temperature on record was 14.57 °C for 1998. All the ten warmest years were since 1987. „The rise is unprecedented“, said Ken Davidson, director of the WMO climate program. Extent and speed of the rise were said to be surprising. 

(Frankfurter Rundschau, 31. December 2002)

New oil wells

When the oil price rises, like now in connection with the Iraq crisis, the oil reserves of the world grow also. This is due to the calculation methods used. They say that the higher the price is the more interesting would it be to exploit reserves which are usually not considered because of technical reasons. Among these reserves are Canada's tar sands; counting them puts Canada suddenly on rank two of the world oil nations, just behind Saudi Arabia and in front of Iraq. To exploit them really, of course, investments in the billion dollar range would be necessary. 

Politics

Bush

In his address to the US Congress on 28. January US president Bush announced a stronger support for hydrogen technology. The intention is to make the USA independent from foreign energy and at the same time improve the environment. Bush said: „Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles. … With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom, so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free.“

The sum he mentioned will be distributed over five years. 720 M$ are new funding, aimed specifically at generation, storage, and distribution of hydrogen. Another sum of 500 M$ comes from the FreecomCAR program presented last year, so that the total funding is 1,7 G$. In the fiscal year 2004, which begins on 1. October 2003, expenses of 273 M$ are planned.

Very similar to his address to Congress Bush expressed himself on 6. February in a Washington museum during an event on „Energy Independence“ which he attended with energy secretary Abraham and EPA head Whitman. An overview over the state of development and use of fuel cells for vehicles, portable electronics, and heating units was shown. In his speech Bush pointed out that hydrogen can be generated from domestic raw materials and primary energies. Among these he mentioned natural gas first, then biomass, ethanol, clear coal, and nuclear power, in particular from nuclear fusion. Bush's comment on oil import: „If we develop hydrogen power to its full potential, we can reduce our demand for oil by over 11 million barrels per day by the year 2040.“ (The US oil consumption today is about 24 million barrel per day, of which 9 are imported.)

Car makers applauded Bush's intentions and said that this would contribute to the faster development of the new vehicles. They made particularly favorable remarks about the intention to invest in infrastructure. The share of relevant companies (Ballard, Plug Power, Millennium) profited from Bush's speech.

Less happiness was found at the side of the environment organizations. They said that the president intends to support hydrogen and fuel cells, but would do rather little for renewable primary energies (see the paragraph above on hydrogen sources). Hydrogen generation from coal and nuclear power would not contribute decisively to take the pressure off the environment. Another thing they did not find in Bush's intentions was to reduce the consumption of the vehicles now on the road. 

What else we have found ...

The roar is missing

Many see a specific advantage of fuel cell cars in the fact that the cell does not make noise (only parts of the periphery). Bob Lutz, vice head of General Motors product development, sees this rather as a safety problem. „We unconsciously use the noise of the motor and the gears to estimate our velocity", he explained in Detroit. Lutz intends to fit the cars of tomorrow with an electronic which by means of the speakers provides an artificial motor noise at the choice of the customer. All tastes will be served, the choice ranging from the noble 12 cylinder engine to the roaring sports car motor.

Remark: This will not turn an economy car into a Ferrari, but the driver can at least have the acoustical impression of driving one.