Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells could be commercially viable in 15 years, according to a new report, but only if engineers overcome technological hurdles and the government pumps $55 billion into their development. The primary barriers to adoption are high costs and the absence of an infrastructure to distribute hydrogen [CNET], according to the federally funded study.
Several car companies are already leasing their experimental fuel-cell cars, but the report says they won’t be a mass-market hit until 2023 at the earliest. Automakers don’t disclose the costs of the few hundred fuel cell vehicles on the roads — but generally say it costs $1 million to $2 million to produce one in such low volumes. The main expense is the platinum in the fuel stack, which accounts for 57 percent of the fuel stack cost [The Detroit News].
Hydrogen cars have been touted as an environmentally benign fix for America’s car culture for years. The technology combines hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity that powers the car, with drips of water the only byproduct; traditional vehicles emit greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Even President Bush has promoted hydrogen vehicles: In 2003, President Bush had proposed spending $1.2 billion to develop fuel cells and infrastructure [Reuters].
The new report acknowledges the long road ahead for hydrogen car development but doesn’t suggest pulling back from the research; instead it recommends a “portfolio approach” of pursuing different transportation technologies, including fuel cells, biofuels, and fuel efficiency [CNET]. But according to Paul Scott, an electric car advocate, the study really suggests that research should focus on plug-in electric cars, which are closer to commercial viability. “It’s obviously ridiculous to put all the emphasis on a technology that’s decades away when our needs are imminent,” Scott said [Reuters].
For a little more perspective on the environmental impact of the first hydrogen cars, see the DISCOVER review, “Under the Hood of the First Real Fuel-Cell Car.”
Image: flickr/dbking
July 19th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
[...] cell vehicles are still fifteen years away from being commercially viable, according to the 80beats blog at Discover magazine’s [...]
July 19th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] via [Discover] [...]
July 19th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
the viable fuel cell car is that far away, but what about the water electrolysis cars that use hho in today’s petroleum cars that are retrofitted at a very modest cost?
July 19th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
July 20th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
why not run existing internal combustion cars on hydrogen, then phase in fuel cell cars when the technology matures?
July 21st, 2008 at 6:03 am
This is the wrong road to go down. The answer is better batteries, or even better, supercapacitors. They can store and release energy very efficiently, whereas making hydrogen and later running it through a fuel cell is never going to anywhere near that efficient. In the end, that’s going to be the overriding consideration.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:26 pm
O yes i’m just dreaming about driving “hydrogen bomb”! The technology is a ordinary rubbish! Another big politics & corporations lies, lies and once again lies.
What about FREE ENERGY?
Don’t profitable enough for “big corpo brother friends”?
Don’t brings big profits to gov to spend on another genocide?
We got everything we need right here: http://peswiki.com .
This technology name is “Water Fuel Cell”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy8dzOB-Ykg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXZakmw0jEI
Is for FREE and make you FREE! Don’t cost billions or zillions $ from ours taxes!
FREE ENERGY FOR ALL!
August 6th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
cars that run on water
Just the information that I need. I am so glad I found this post. Thanks :)
August 7th, 2008 at 2:01 am
run your car on water
Most experts will agree this is true.
October 25th, 2008 at 3:00 am
scrap gold pittsburgh
THE NEW YORK TIMES Nov. 27, 2001 To The Editor: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (\”Better Gas Mileage, Greater Security,\” Op- Ed, Nov. 24) may be right that reduced gasoline consumption should be a national goal. But I disagree with his proposal for how to …
November 10th, 2008 at 2:15 am
water fuel
Water for gas. A catch phrase lately. But does it work?
July 5th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I’ve heard of instead of using high strength steal or carbon nanotubes, researchers are looking into chicken feathers to build the fuel cells on hydrogen cars. Hear me out. when heated, the keratin in the chicken feathers have similar properties to nanotubes.
Check this out:
http://cleantechnica.com/2009/06/24/hydrogen-fuel-tanks-made-from-chicken-feathers-could-save-55-million/