Europe gets CUTE over clean transport

Date: 06/02/03

By Karen Carstens

IT WILL have come as no surprise to most that George Bush used last week's State of the Union address to pump up America for a possible war.

But did anyone expect the US President to use his annual Congressional address to plug hydrogen-powered cars?

Among the less-reported quotes from his speech was this: "A simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a car producing only water, not exhaust fumes I am proposing 1.2 billion (€1.1 billion) in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles."

EU expenditure for research into 'fuel cells' - the batteries that produce the chemical reaction - is estimated as about one-third of that in the United States and a quarter of Japan. This is about to change.

The European Commission plans to spend €2.12 billion over the next three years on fuel cell research. It has set up a high-level working group on hydrogen involving 18 companies, including DaimlerChrysler and RoyalDutch/Shell.

This year, DaimlerChrysler is launching a pilot project, operating 30 fuel-cell city buses in ten cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Oporto, Reykjavik, Stockholm and Stuttgart.

Dubbed CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe), the two-year, €52 million initiative is partially funded by the Commission and is the biggest single fleet of fuel-cell commercial vehicles anywhere.

"There is no other long-term alternative fuel that could replace petrol in a meaningful way," said Hanns Glatz, DaimlerChrysler's European affairs manager. "About 20 to 30 years from now, it could be a real option.

Report of a new initiative known as CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe), which aims to develop the use of hydrogen-powered vehicles.