For the first time the German Hydrogen Energy Day (Deutscher Wasserstoff-Energietag) will be held this year from 12. to 14. November at Essen. It will be a forum for all interested parties: business and industry, economists and politicians, engineers and scientists and not least financial people and bankers. Prof. Carl-Jochen Winter is the force behind the project. It is supported by the government of the state of North Rhine-Westfalia.

Japan's first two hydrogen filling stations in the framework of the WE-NET program are completed. In Osaka a plant with a natural gas reformer was installed, at the Shikoku Research Institute in Takamatsu (about 200 km SW of Osaka) another one with an electrolyser (see No. 3/01 „Japan“ and 4/01 „Japan“). Both stations have a dual storage system: one with a storage pressure of 250 or 350 bar to supply vehicles with pressure tanks, another with 7 bar for metal hydride storage. 24 to 30 filling operations daily are possible, each taking a few minutes only. 

The Osaka filling station was opened on the 7. February. About 150 representants of the project partners, government agencies, and the media were present; the major TV chains reported about it in their prime time news. Fuel cell cars by Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Daihatsu were presented. Participants hope that the events will give a push to hydrogen use in Japan. In Osaka at least the interest was to great that access to the opening ceremony had to be restricted.

The European Commission provides a total of 18,5 M€ for the „CUTE“ project which means that 27 fuel cell buses will circulate in nine European cities. The cities are Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, London, Luxemburg, Madrid, Porto, Stockholm and Stuttgart. The buses are supplied by DaimlerChrysler. Each of the nine operators will install a supply using different methods. The data will be used to find practical ways to a hydrogen supply infrastructure.

The first prototype was presented to the customers end of 2001 in Vancouver and is now in the test drive and product definition stage. It  is a 12 m long low floor bus with a range of about 200 km, a top speed of 80 km/h, and a transport capacity of more than 60 passengers. The fuel cell unit with an output of more than 200 kW and the cylinders with gas under 350 bar are mounted on the roof.

(Hyweb-Gazette of 30. January 2002; DaimlerChrysler press release of 1. February 2002; see No. 2/01 „Buses“)

Clearly before 2010 BMW will offer their customers hydrogen cars with an internal combustion engine. During the lifetime of the new series 7 a hydrogen variant of it will be for sale. By 2020 the Munich company plans a share of 25 % for hydrogen of the sales of new cars, provided the infrastructure develops accordingly.

(BMW press release of 22. January 2002)

DaimlerChrysler is running a test car which is equipped with a "Hydrogen on Demand" system by Millennium Cell. Sodium borohydride is in the tank. It is produced from borax (Na₂B₄O₇), a common and cheap substance. It reacts with water and generates very pure hydrogen, thus exactly what a PEM cell needs. What remains are water and  borax. One tank filling gives a range of almost 500 km, and the tanks are no pressure vessels with the weight and space problems usually associated with them. The vehicle is fittingly called „Natrium“ (sodium).

(Automotive Wire, 12. December 2001)

The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) at Wuerenlingen (Switzerland) and the Technical University (ETH) Zurich as well as various other technology companies have converted a car of the Volkswagen type "Bora" to hydrogen and fuel cells. „We wanted to show the potential, not only in the laboratory, but in real road traffic“, said project head Philipp Dietrich. In mid-January the vehicle passed the 2005 m high Simplon pass in the Alps.

The PEM cells are made using for the first time a membrane developed by PSI which is cheaper than the usual ones but has a high performance. The braking energy is partly stored in supercapacitors and is then available for phases with high load (mountains, overtaking). Thus the electric motor can output up to 75 kW, though the fuel cell makes only 40 kW. The test vehicle accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 15 s. Top speed is 115 km/h. One tank load of pressurized gas is enough for 100 to 150 km in plain territory. The next destination of the vehicle in Switzerland is Geneva. It will be shown on the car fair.

(Aargauer Zeitung, 19. January 2002; VW press release of 31. January 2002)

Sensistor Technologies offers a leak tester using hydrogen or hydrogen mixtures as test gas. In sniffing mode leak rates down to 10^-7 mbar/l s can be detected. A portable version is available.

In an almost 60 °C hot hydrothermal spring 200 m below the surface in the US state of Idaho researchers found microorganisms that need neither organic carbon compounds nor other products of photosynthesis to exist. All they need comes from the ground: molecular hydrogen is generated in reactions between hydrothermal fluids and volcanic rocks, and carbon dioxide is also generated anorganically. While the necessary electrons are usually provided by light radiation they are here supplied by the hydrogen. The conditions under which these organisms exist are more similar to those on other planets than everything so far found on earth. This gives new food for speculations about life on Mars or elsewhere.

(F. H. Chapelle et al., Nature 415 (2002) 312-5)

The small spa of Mingolsheim, located between Karlsruhe and Mannheim (SW Germany), becomes a kind of fuel cell test ground for the EnBW utility. At least 55 small solid oxide cells by Sulzer Hexis will be installed there until 2004. The first was delivered in late December. EnBW and Sulzer Hexis AG have made an agreement about the delivery of such cells for the supply of homes running until the end of 2006 (EnBW press release of 18. December 2001). Independent of this is the project to heat a local public bath with a Ballard PEM cell (250 kW) (see No. 2/01 „PEM stationary“).

Vaillant has received from DVGW the CE mark according to the gas devices directive of the European Commission for their fuel cell heating devices. These can now be marketed in all the countries of the EU, and they can be used in ordinary buildings. This is not only important for the future serial product, but also facilitates field tests.

(Press release of 12. December 2001)

Mitsubishi, Shell Hydrogen and Johnson Matthey (noble metals, catalysts) have founded a joint venture funds specialized on fuel cell and hydrogen technology. Conduit Ventures Ltd. will accumulate a capital stock of 100 M$. The money will be invested in companies which have developed relevant technologies and need more money for the further development and marketing. Amount of the order of 1 ... 10 M$ will be invested in medium private companies.

(Bloomberg, 28. January 2002)

Ballard lays off workforce after the new structure of the joint work with DaimlerChrysler and Ford. About 80 jobs at the company seat in Vancouver and 140 at the German daughter at Nabern (near Stuttgart) are concerned. Company spokesman Lancaster pointed out that Ballard then still has 1400 employees, 600 more than six months ago.

On 30. January Toshiba demonstrated the operation of a "Personal Digital Assistant" (PDA) on a fuel cell instead of an accumulator. The Direct Methanol Fuel Cell has a continuous output of 3...5 W and a peak of 8 W. The size is 127 x 105 x 25 mm, the weight 500 g. The latter can be reduced considerably: a weight of 200 g can be achieved by using lighter materials.

(Nikkei Electronics, 1. February 2002)

Smart Fuel Cells GmbH from Munich is introducing a first serial product in the market. It is a small generator which has been produced in a preliminary series of 1000 and is now running in a field test with selected customers. Free sale of the system is planned for mid-2002. A tank for 2,5 l methanol and a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell provide a total of 2,5 kWh electrical energy with an power output of up to 100 W, and this even at –40 °C. Maintenance, loading and replacement of conventional accumulators are no longer necessary for the customer, because changing the tank is a matter of a few seconds, even during continuous operation.

(Press release of 30. January 2002; see No. 5/01 „Expo“)

The Japanese car maker creates a fuel cell development center. It will concentrate and intensify work so far done in various places in the company. It will have a development, a production, and a planning department and be initially equipped with 450 employees.

(Asia Pulse, 27. December 2001)

On 8. January the US island state opened a state fuel cell test center. It is to promote hydrogen technology and to attract related activities. Participants are Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc., General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and the Department of Energy as well as UTC Fuel Cells, the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii and the Office of Naval Research of the Department of Defense. The center will be concerned both with commercial and military applications. David Inouye, senator for Hawaii, said during the opening ceremony that oil has been at root of most US military conflicts in recent decades, although the government never admits that. Becoming energy independent would save the nation billions of dollars now spent on oil, money that could be spent on education and other worthy projects.

(Pacific Business News, 11. January 2002)

All climatologists agree that inundations, storms and other extreme weather events will be much more frequent in the century ahead that in the past. „Once-in-a-century“ floods will rather occur every 20 years. A study recently published in Nature demonstrates this both for England and for Bengal. Another paper in the same issue of Nature shows that the trend is already visible: the frequency of great inundations has significantly increased in the 20. century. This does not mean that global warming will make the temperatures increase everywhere to the same extent. In the Antarctic, not a too warm region anyway, the values even decreased between 1966 and 2000. And if the changes of the sea currents should have the effect that the gulf stream does no more provide so much warm water for Europe the winters here will become much more the Canadian style.

(T. N. Palmer et al., Nature 415 (2002) 512-4; P. C. D. Milly et al., 514-7; P. T. Doran et al., 517-20)

The federal government of the USA will no longer support the development of economic conventional vehicles, but that of fuel cell cars. The „Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles“ which started 1993 under Clinton will be scrapped. The idea was to develop a car running at least 80 miles on one gallon of gas (corresponds to a bit less than 3 l/100 km). The new program, called „Freedom Car”, will support the development of fuel cell cars, but not require a serial type.

The driving force behind these unexpected insights of the Bush administration are neither the affection to the environment nor climate protection, but the 11. September. Energy secretary Abraham said that the program will contribute to reduce the dependency on imported oil. Abraham published the project on the Detroit Motor Show with representants of DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and General Motors. Infrastructure will dealt with as well. The project was good news for the stocks of companies like Ballard, FuelCell Energy, or Plug Power. Environmentalists suspect that Bush will use the long-term benefits of the fuel cell to stop efforts towards the short-term benefit of more economic cars. 

For the fiscal year 2003 (starts on 1. October 2002) the government has planned to spend 150 M$ from the federal budget for „Freedom Car“. Other branches of the field will profit as well. The hydrogen program of the EERE (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office), a part of the Department of Energy (DoE), will receive 40 M$, almost 11 M$ more. The main reason is the need for research into storage. The plan for stationary fuel cells is 7,5 M$ (+2 M$). The DoE Office of Fossil Energy (!) wants 50 M$ to investigate the role of fuel cells in a distributed energy economy.

After longish discussions the German federal parliament on 25. January passed the cogeneration law. It is foreseen to become effective on 1. April. Small cogeneration units, among which fuel cells are explicitly mentioned, receive a bonus of 0,0511 € per kWh fed into the grid on top of the market price. This bonus is fixed for ten years.