[Peakoil] The Future of Hydrogen Cars

[Keith Thomas]

I know some of you guys are into alternative fuels. I'm not. But for 
those who are, here's a piece from the New York Times today
--------------------------------------------
Keith Thomas
http://www.evfit.com
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Begin forwarded message:

From: "The New York Times Direct" <NYTDirect at nytimes.com>
Date: 30 March 2007 8:18:18 AM GMT+10:00
Subject: Circuits: The Future of Hydrogen Cars
Reply-To: "The New York Times Direct" <NYTDirect at nytimes.com>

  The Future of Hydrogen Cars

Over on my blog, I'm wrapping up my notes on the 2007 TED conference 
(Technology, Entertainment, Design), a reality-altering, four-day 
series of 50 speakers, most of whom are absolutely brilliant.

But for me, one of the most enlightening talks this year took place 
"off-campus."

On the second day of the show, attendees were invited to attend a 
lunch-hour presentation by Dr. Frank Ochmann, the head of BMW's 
clean-energy development project, who had flown in from Munich for the 
event.

BMW believes that liquid hydrogen is the best bet as the 
next-generation fuel for cars. A memorable opening slide depicted a 
timeline of human history, in the middle of which was a narrow, tall 
spike showing our relatively brief fossil-fuel-burning period. The 
blank area to the left was labeled, "First solar civilization," and the 
one to its right, "Second solar civilization."

It reminded attendees that no matter what you believe politically, 
fossil fuels are finite. Period.

Anyway, BMW has the first fleet of hydrogen-powered cars (100, a 
quarter of which are in the U.S.). Other car companies, of course, are 
experimenting with hydrogen as fuel, but these 100 cars aren't 
hand-built prototypes or concept cars; they were factory built like any 
other BMW model, which is a significant milestone.

Anyway, the advantage of hydrogen cars is that they don't pollute. The 
only thing coming out of their tailpipe is pure water vapor. In fact, 
each audience member was given a bottle of bottled water--whose label, 
instead of "Evian" or "Dasana," was "EXHAUST." (Dr. Ochmann took a swig 
from it to make the point.)

Afterward, attendees were invited to test drive one of the hydrogen 
cars. I did. It was just exactly like driving any other car (well, any 
other BMW 7 series)--after all, the engine was the same. The only thing 
different was the fuel system.

Actually, there are two; like many alternative vehicles these days, 
this one is a hybrid. If you're far from a hydrogen tank (and you will 
be for years), you can press a button on the steering wheel, labeled 
H2, that switches seamlessly between hydrogen and gasoline.

Some car companies are experimenting with hydrogen gas; BMW's fleet 
uses liquid hydrogen, which must be kept at -423 degrees Fahrenheit. 
That's pretty cold; -459, after all, is absolute zero. The fuel is kept 
in a superthick insulated tank at the back of the car--a tank so bulky, 
it makes a visible bulge behind the rear seats.

A video illustrated how you fuel up one of these cars. The "gas pump" 
hose doesn't just slip into your tank's opening; you actually lock it 
on, creating a seal. Inside the tube, two spherical valves rotate 90 
degrees; each of these balls has a hole drilled through it to permit 
the passage of a second, thinner, inner hose. This inner hose passes 
through the two valves and all the way down into your car's tank to 
"rain" the hydrogen.

After the talk, I asked if hydrogen could explode (think Hindenburg). 
The engineers responded that in Germany, they've tried shooting bullets 
at the tank, slamming a construction girder into it, and so on; liquid 
hydrogen may burn, but it doesn't blow up. In that regard, it's 
actually safer in a spill situation than gasoline.

Now, I'm well aware of how hostile some critics are to the concept of 
hydrogen cars. Their primary objection, of course, is the amount of 
energy that's consumed (and pollution generated) in producing hydrogen 
in the first place.

BMW agrees that hydrogen cars are pointless unless the hydrogen itself 
is produced using clean, renewable energy sources: solar, wind, 
geothermal and so on.

"At the beginning, some of it's going to be nonrenewable," said Dr. 
Ochmann, "but the percentage will increase." (In the meantime, even if 
fossil fuels are used in the short term, at least the byproducts of 
burning them can theoretically be controlled at a single source.)

Another objection raised by an audience member: What about getting 
fillups? Our government is making a big push toward ethanol as a new 
fuel (despite dubious environmental prospects), but there are still 
only several hundred ethanol filling stations in the entire country. 
Isn't the situation even worse for hydrogen pumps?

BMW reiterated that moving to hydrogen will be a long-term proposition. 
At the moment, in fact, there are only three hydrogen pumps in the U.S. 
at the moment (California and Washington, D.C.) "It will be a difficult 
process," Dr. Ochmann said: "station by station, gas company by gas 
company."

The point is that, as he put it, "This is a marathon, not a sprint." 
Many pieces have to be put in place: governmental, public, 
technological and legal. "We all have to move together at the same 
time," he concluded.

But BMW's point, and I agree, is that at least the technology part of 
the auto-fuel problem has been solved.

Yes, yes, of course, taking hydrogen to the mainstream still requires 
staggering amounts of investment, legislation, policy, and political 
will. But from a purely technological standpoint, using today's 
renewable power sources and liquid hydrogen, the balance sheet for the 
entire cycle, from hydrogen production to driving the cars, could 
reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by at least 90 percent, by BMW's 
calculations.

Of course, BMW's way isn't the only way. There are many approaches to 
using hydrogen in cars, each with pros and cons, each exhibiting both 
recent breakthroughs and significant obstacles. (The Wikipedia.com 
entry on "hydrogen cars" offers an excellent, balanced and up-to-date 
presentation on the issue.)

Most car companies, in fact, are pursuing hydrogen fuel cells instead; 
they transform hydrogen into electricity, which then powers the 
car--or, in their current incarnation, underpowers it. Plenty of people 
positively spit on BMW's approach (here's an example).

But people like this are completely ignoring the fact that all of these 
experiments are in their earliest stages, and will improve.

Meanwhile, the biggest obstacles are presented by people's attitudes, 
not technology: "Oh, that'll never work."

Guess what? It's going to have to work. Sooner or later, hydrogen, or 
something like it, is all we'll have to work with.
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