Feds plan for national hydrogen car-fuel network

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham released a "roadmap" Tuesday for putting fuel cells in the nation’s cars and trucks, further committing the United States to a hydrogen-based transportation system.

DAVID GOODMAN, Associated Press Writer San Francisco Chronicle

"Creating the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle of the future presents complex technical challenges," he told business leaders at the Global Forum on Personal Transportation in the hometown of Ford Motor Co. "Overcoming them will take an intensive and equally complex effort — but it will be worth it because the stakes really are so high."

The Department of Energy and the nation’s leading car and oil companies began work one year ago on a "National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap," Abraham said.

Abraham held a closed-door meeting later Tuesday with the chief executives of some of the nation’s leading businesses, including Ford, General Motors Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., as well as the leaders of American, Northwest and Southwest airlines.

Fuel cells use a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity. When pure hydrogen is used, the only tailpipe emission is water vapor.

The technology could have two big benefits: sharply cutting America’s dependence on oil imports from an unstable Middle East and reducing the production of greenhouse gases widely blamed for global warming.

But fuel-cell technology is not expected to be widely available until the end of the decade at least.

Critics say the Bush administration and auto industry are using fuel cell research as a way to fend off calls for vehicles that get more miles per gallon.

"The whole business about fuel cell vehicles is just political theater," said analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities.

He said a much better way to reduce oil consumption is through gas-electric vehicles, some of which already are on the road.

"They’re light years away from a commercial (fuel cell) vehicle," Healy said.

Abraham acknowledged that many hurdles remain.

One of the biggest challenges is finding a safe way to store hydrogen fuel in vehicles. Others are developing a hydrogen delivery network like the one that distributes gasoline to stations nationwide, and finding economical ways to produce hydrogen.

The initiative also is looking at other uses for hydrogen.

"The roadmap outlines the research, development, demonstration, codes and standards, and education efforts necessary to lead the nation to a clean and sustainable energy future," the Energy Department said.

Abraham said it is vital for America to abandon its reliance on oil and other fossil fuels.

"Whether it is fusion, a hydrogen economy, or ideas that we have not yet explored, I believe we need to leapfrog the status quo and prepare for a future that under any scenario requires a revolution in how we produce, deliver and use energy," he said.

In January, the Bush administration abandoned a Clinton-era effort to produce highly fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles. In its place, the administration announced a joint effort with automakers to promote hydrogen fuel cell powered cars and trucks,

In May, General Motors displayed a pickup truck that it said was the world’s first drivable fuel cell vehicle that extracts hydrogen from gasoline to produce electricity.
On the Net:

Department of Energy hydrogen power site, http://www.eren.doe.gov/hydrogen/

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2002/11/12/financial1648EST0254.DTL