The European Hydrogen Association (EHA) was founded on 25. January in Brussels (see our press release No. 1/00 of 2. February 2000). Founder members except DWV were among others the associations already existing in Europe, namely from Norway, Italy, Sweden and France, as well as the Dutch Energy and Environment Agency (NOVEM) and Shell Hydrogen B.V. (Amsterdam). The new association will mainly represent hydrogen technology towards international agencies. At the same time EHA will promote the foundation of national hydrogen associations in countries not yet having one. In the foreseeable future such organizations will be established in Iceland and the Netherlands.

Since May 1999 the hydrogen filling station on Munich airport, a joint project of 13 companies and the Bavarian government, works without any incident. The BMW used as VIP shuttle has meanwhile run 10.000 km and transported 500 VIPs, among them five presidents and a number of ministers. The last of them was the transportation minister of Saudi Arabia. One customer of the filling station is DaimlerChrysler's Necar 4. During February It was used as shuttle for crews, staff, and visitors to collect experience from regular operation conditions. (See No. 3/99 "Munich")

The Federal Ministry for Research puts 1 MEuro in a project for the investigation of hydrogen storage in graphite nanostructures. Subject will be the production of the material and the relationship between its storage capacity and its properties and history. The first step will be the reproduction of the results known and judged as reliable. 14 % storage factor are considered as theoretically possible, about 10 % as technically feasible under favorable conditions. A car tank of this kind for a range of 500 km would be only 10 % greater than a comparable gasoline tank.

The ministry said that hydrogen as energy carrier has the advantage that the reaction with air in a fuel cell generates mainly water as "exhaust gas", but no carbon oxides which would be a burden to the environment. (Press release No. 3/2000 of 12. January 2000)

"What has to be done, beginning today, to implement a hydrogen fuel infrastructure so that when hydrogen vehicles become market-ready in 3–5 years, the infrastructure needed for on-board direct use of hydrogen will be available?" This was the question by the US Department of Energy to a panel of experts in last October. The answer: "There are no technical showstoppers to implementing a near-term hydrogen fuel infrastructure for direct hydrogen fuel cell vehicles." What exactly needs to be done to this end during the next five years is written down in a report which we highly recommend to the responsible persons here. (J. Ohi: Blueprint for Hydrogen Fuel Infrastructure Development, NREL Report No. NREL/MP-540-27770, January 2000)

An intermediate result of the "Transport Energy Strategy" project was published on 19. January by federal transport minister Klimmt and the participants. BMW, DaimlerChrysler, VW, and MAN, Shell and Aral as well as RWE look for practical ways to alternative fuels and driving systems. Klimmt called the project one of the most important initiatives in the transport sector during this term of legislation. Cars with driving systems considered as alternative today could achieve a market share of 15 % in 20 years. The work will now concentrate on liquid natural gas, methanol, and liquid hydrogen. Apart from this there is neither agreement between the partners nor a position of the federal government. BMW maintains that natural gas can be introduced in the market soon, while DaimlerChrysler bets on methanol and hydrogen, in particular on the basis of renewable resources, and Volkswagen sees hydrogen and a special fuel as the alternatives.

General Motors on 11. January at Detroit presented a concept car named "Precept" which is to have a range of 800 km and a consumption of 2.2 l gasoline equivalent on 100 km. The fuel for Precept is a highly viscous hydride stored in tanks under the rear seats. A GM manager said that the fuel cell would be ready for the market by 2004, but the infrastructure requires more work. "We're trying to set the stage to get millions of these out there. ... You don't clean the air by putting just a few of these on the roads" (Associated Press, 11. January 2000)

Toyota president Fujio Cho said in Detroit: "We can no longer afford to ignore the signs for global warming and the fact of the increasing consumption of gasoline and other fossil fuels. Environmentally friendly cars will soon no longer be an option - they will become a necessity."

dbb Fuel Cell Engines and Shell Hydrogen have finished the joint work on a gasoline reformer after 18 months. The first prototype was still stationary, but already rather compact and delivered 50 kW. During an extensive test phase it worked well also under dynamic conditions. Both sides will now continue to work on the topic. (DaimlerChrysler press release of 16. February 2000)

Messer Griesheim will not be taken over by Linde. After months of negotiations both gas companies concluded that the European Commission would have either denied a merger or made conditions which would have been unacceptable for both sides. The takeover of the Swedish AGA by Linde has been approved. (See No. 4/99 "Mergers")

Take certain metal oxides as fine powder, put them in distilled water, stir well and - you get hydrogen. This was announced from Japan a bit more than one year ago. A new publication says that the underlying mechanism is a combination of the properties of the glass structure and its defects with the charge carriers of the p-semiconductors used. (T. Ohta, Int. J. of Hydrogen Energy 25 (2000) 287-93; see No. 6/98 "Stirred, not shaken")

Californian scientists know how to make algae produce hydrogen (instead of oxygen): by taking away the sulfur they need for photosynthesis. They then switch to an "emergency program" during which a culture of 1 l generated 160 cm³ hydrogen in 6 h (about 80 mW). After this they need some sulfur to recover. The next step will be to look for ways to increase the yield. (A. Melis et al., Plant Physiology 122 (2000) 127-36 )

The first fuel cell in France hat started operation around the end of January in Chelles, east of Paris. It is a phosphoric acid cell by ONSI with 200 kW electric and about the same thermal power output. It supplies 200 apartments.

A stationary molten carbonate fuel cell by MTU Friedrichshafen will operate in the Mercedes factory of Tuscaloosa (Alabama, USA) within one year. Southern Company will participate in the project which has a volume of 2 M$ and a duration of at least one year. (See No. 6/99 "Bielefeld ")

Delphi Automotive Systems and Global Thermoelectric Inc. have tested a solid oxide fuel cell system running on gasoline. On 26. April both had agreed with BMW to develop such a system which can supply the electrical installation of a car. A stationary prototype for isolated consumers or a small number of homes was tested successfully as well. (Press release of 22. December 1999; Reuters, 4. February 2000; see No. 3/99 "BMW")

Ballard on 9. January in Detroit showed a PEM cell for cars which has a power density of 1,3 kW/l, a power output of 75 kW and still needs only half the space of the previous generation and weighs 30 % less. The first car to use it is Ford's concept study TH!NK FC5 which was presented the following day on the motor show in Detroit. Ford president William Clay Ford Jr. is reported to have said that the fuel cell will end the 100-year reign of the internal combustion engine.

Together with its Japanese partner Ebara and Tokyo Gas Co. Ballard develops a plant of the 1 kW class for homes. For 2010 there is an expectation of 200.000 to 300.000 units to be sold.

Cells for portable devices (generators) are worked upon with Coleman Powermate. (Ballard press releases of 9. and 11. January 2000; Reuters, 14. January 2000)

The South Korean car companies Hyundai and Kia will invest almost 9 M$ in the fuel cell research this year. Daewoo will start a program with a government research laboratory. The oil companies SK Corp. and LG-Caltex Oil also work on the topic. By 2003 Hyundai will decide whether to manufacture or to import the cells. (Calstart, 10. February 2000)

Motorola and the Los Alamos National Laboratory make a miniature fuel cell which could supply a mobile phone for a month on a methanol cartridge. The prototype is a cube with an edge length of about 40 mm. The cell is only 25 x 25 x 2,5 mm. Two of them are top and bottom, while the methanol storage and the electronics are between them. (Press release of 19. January)

The TC 105 "Fuel Cells" of the International Electrotechnical Commission held its first meeting on 23. and 24. February in Frankfurt am Main. The unusually high number of 40 meeting participants from nine countries reflected the great interest in the topic. The TC 197 "Hydrogen Technologies" of ISO was represented as well.

Fuel cells are a hot topic for investors. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has bought 5 % of Avista Labs. While this company does other things as well most observers think that the investment is due to the fuel cell development. The Avista shares rose by 30 % during January. Plug Power as well added 22 % without having published any news. Another company profiting from this trend is SGL Carbon (Meitingen, Germany) which makes fuel cell components. (Reuters, 21. January 2000; Stuttgarter Zeitung, 29. January 2000)

DaimlerChrysler on 6. January declared that it has left the US anti-climate-protection lobby "Global Climate Coalition". This is the second major car maker to leave GCC within one month. The other war Ford. Shell and BP had left earlier.