World's first public filling station for liquid (!) hydrogen will be opened on 5. May on Munich airport by Otto Wiesheu, Bavaria's minister for economy. (The station at Hamburg provides compressed gas only, see no. 1/99 "Filling Station".) The fully automated station is part of a project to demonstrate the full chain of hydrogen technology from electrolysis to end use (see no. 6/97 "Take-Off for Munich Airport").

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DaimlerChrysler's new fuel cell car was presented on 17. March at Washington. Necar 4 has 100 l liquid hydrogen on board. DaimlerChrysler sees it as the optimum fuel for fuel cells. This combination yields the highest efficiencies, and the vehicle is even emission free (no CO₂ either). Methanol is considered as intermediate step for the marked penetration of individual cars.

Necar 4's 70 kW (Necar 3: 50) let it run at a maximum of about 145 km/h (Necar 3: 120, Necar 2: 110) for 450 km, an uncommonly high value for electric vehicles (3: 400, 2: 240). This is equivalent to a consumption of 3,2 l Diesel on 100 km. The whole fuel cell system is hidden in the car floor. Thus for the first time up to five passengers and a lot of luggage have space.

DaimlerChrysler intends to start the serial production of fuel cell cars in 2004. Investments until then will have been more than 2 Billion DM (1 Billion Euro). The final decision will be made at the end of this year.

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Starting early 2000 California will undertake a great demonstration project with fuel cell vehicles, according to an announcement Governor Davis gave on 20. April at Sacramento. The partners are Ballard, DaimlerChrysler, and Ford as well as the oil companies Dutch/Shell, Texaco, and Atlantic Richfield plus the state of California. Until 2003 DaimlerChrysler and Ford will provide a total of 30 cars and 20 buses. All vehicles have Ballard fuel cells in common.

A key target of the project is to determine the best infrastructure. There will be experiments with hydrogen and methanol and maybe also studies about the use of improved gasoline.

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This year's Hanover fair saw the fifth joint presentation of "Hydrogen Technologies and Fuel Cells". One highlight was the visit of Mr. Werner Mueller, Federal Minister for Economy. He discussed with DWV chairman Rolf Ewald and had the exhibits of Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke and H-TEC explained to him. He called himself a "friend of hydrogen". Then the minister entered a fuel cell taxi and went to the next appointment without any noise and emissions.

25 exhibitors presented the topic in its full width. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems showed a system for decentral power generation on the basis of LPG (propane). LPG contains about 10 times as much energy per unit volume as hydrogen compressed to 200 bar, and it is available everywhere. The system comprises an autothermal reformer; these did not exist so far for the class of 1.5 to 3 kW (see press release). The power might be generated by a PEM cell delivering 150 to 250 W at 12 V; it was shown under the name "Power Bag" by ZSW from Ulm. The researchers are now looking for industrial partners who would like to invest in these fields.

In 2000 the Hanover fair will be held already in March. The organizers ask all potential exhibitors to contact them early (Arno A. Evers PR-Beratung).

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The public has an increasingly positive image of hydrogen as energy carrier. This is the main result of the study "The acceptance of hydrogen technologies" made by L-B-Systemtechnik in Ottobrunn for the European Commission. In autumn 1997 passengers aged between 14 and 92 years on board of the world's first hydrogen city bus in Munich were asked what they associated spontaneously with hydrogen. Almost 40 % mentioned environmental benefits, only 5% possible dangers. A similar pattern resulted when pupils of the 11th and 12th class were asked. In the case of the passengers, however, the direct contact with the technology appeared to enhance the approval even further. An elderly lady went straight to the tailpipe at the terminus and was enthusiastic to find that there was nothing to smell.

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The transportation companies of Chicago and Vancouver are running three fuel cell buses each for a year now and are highly satisfied. The buses performed a total distance of 52.400 km, and in Chicago alone 30.000 paying passengers were transported. The average distance between technical stops is 1600 (Chicago) and 1900 km (Vancouver), respectively, so that they are more reliable than the Diesel buses. Filling them up with pressurized gas was never a problem. Fuel cell maker Ballard expects the buses to be competitive with Diesel buses by 2010, with natural gas or trolley buses even earlier. (Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter, April 1999)

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Europe's chemical industry considers the energetic use of hydrogen as an important future business and will promote it. On a meeting held on 12. April at Brussels Sustech, a suborganization of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), decided to create a working group which will propose joint proposals for work among each other and towards the institutions of the European Union.

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Promising results about the hydrogen storage capability of certain graphite nanostructures are found outside Boston as well. Loading factors of more than 8 % were found at Caltech and Rice University in rope-like structures of single-walled nanotubes ("SWNT") at 80 K and under 120 bar. This is about the same as for liquid hydrogen when the tank weight is considered. More appears to be possible. (Y. Ye u. a., Appl. Phys. L. 19. April 1999)

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On 3. March the "Natural Gas House" of Verbundnetz Gas AG (VNG) in Machern (near Leipzig) was disconnected from the grid for the first time. A family of four will be supplied with electricity and heat only by a PEW cell with reformer for the next 6 months (if the plant is not out of service for maintenance or tests). Mr. Schommer, Saxony's minister for economy, stated on this occasion: "Saxony needs investment and innovation to keep pace in competition. In my eyes this is an important step to push this technology forward." Experience could be gained by such projects only. "The initiative of VNG points the way towards introduction into the market on a broad basis." In five years VNG and partner will make the system marketable for prices around 5000 DM (2500 Euro). (See also no. 4/98 "Private Cells" and no. 6/98 "Revolution in your basement") (Later remark: Please note the correction in the next issue!)

A group of Japanese companies headed by Nissan and Suzuki will start government-supported research in direct methanol fuel cells in May. This cell integrates the methanol cracking in the electrochemical processes. Nissan has rejected its own reformer development in favor of the new concept. Almost 5 million Euro will be invested over 5 years, 80 % of if public funds. A prototype is expected to be ready by 2003. (Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter, April 1999)

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General Motors and Toyota announced on 19. April that they have concluded an agreement limited to five years for a co-operation in the field of fuel cells and other alternative driving technologies.

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What shall we do with an old fuel cell? This was investigated for the first time in the case of an ONSI cell of the type PC 25A which had been running at Thyssengas for one year and for four years at the Dueren city utility (near Aachen). It was demounted and disposed of in a model project. Additionally, the components were investigated closely. The loss of output was mainly the result of the formation of ammonia in the gas conditioning plant; the reason for this was the rather high nitrogen content of 11 % in the natural gas used at Dueren. By recycling the platinum (about 1 kg) and many other materials the recycling costs could be covered completely. (G. Wismann et al., Gaswärme International 48 (1999) 195-200)

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A meeting at Lucerne will deal with small fuel cells exclusively. Applications for electric tools, electronic devices (computer, phone), leisure, transportation, emergency services and education will be presented. The first fuel cell boat race will be held in front of the meeting center located at Vierwaldstätter See. ("Portable Fuel Cells", 21.-24. June 1999, Lucerne; see Events)

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The scientific advisory committee of the German federal government (WBGU) thinks that there is an increased risk of long-term and serious environmental dangers. The CO₂ enrichment of the atmosphere and the nitrogen enrichment of the ground together with warmer climate could lead to a breakdown of the vegetation system in 50 years. A cooling of 5 to 6 °C would happen in Europe when the gulf stream would cease due to the climate change. The target set by the federal government to reduce the CO₂ emission by 25 % from 1990 to 2005 is not enough, according to Mr. Schellnhuber, chairman of the committee. We must achieve the breakthrough to a new structure of energy supply in the next years. The ecological tax which will be introduced would have next to no effect.

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