Hydrogen-powered transport – a reality ‘within years’

By Jerome Glass

Date: 24/03/05

If the group of engineers and businessmen who gathered in Brussels last week are correct, then cars may soon be running on water. One attendee at the general assembly of the European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Platform (HFP), which brings together stakeholders from industry, government and non-governmental organisations, observed: "We already have prototype vehicles and it is estimated that commercialisation and mass roll-out could start by 2020." The words of some crackpot scientist? Not quite. They were spoken by Janez Potocnik, the commissioner for science and research.

Potocnik has been quick to pick up on the potential for hydrogen as the fuel of the future, but others, accustomed to prototype cars that run on everything from processed bananas to human waste, might be forgiven for displaying a little more scepticism. What is it that makes hydrogen a serious contender to replace oil as the world's transportation fuel of choice?

Perhaps the first thing to note is that hydrogen-powered transportation is not new. Space shuttles have been using a combination of liquid hydrogen combustion and hydrogen fuel-cell power for decades. Enthusiasts like to trace the history of hydrogen power back even further, to the experiments of British physicist William Grove in 1839. According to an engineer at the HFP, "the potential for hydrogen power has always been there, but there was never really the need to develop it fully".

Now, with the number of cars in the world expected to rise from 800 million in 2005, to over 1.5 billion by 2030, the need is glaringly apparent.

The chief selling point of hydrogen-powered cars is that they produce no emissions. In scientific jargon, they are known as ZEVs, or zero emissions vehicles. When hydrogen reacts with oxygen in the air, it produces energy and pure water. The organisers of the HFP general assembly emphasised the point by distributing bottles of drinking water to attendees with 'Fuel' and 'Emissions' written on the label.

Nor is hydrogen power just an idea confined to the laboratory. It is already out there, powering 30-odd buses in ten cities around Europe, including London, Hamburg, and Madrid. Jeremy Bentham, chief executive of Shell Hydrogen and chairman of the HFP, delights in telling people that "from [his] office in Amsterdam, [he] can look out of the window and see the tell-tale plume of pure water vapour coming from the back of hydrogen-powered buses." Potocnik, who had the chance to test-drive a hydrogen fuel-cell powered Mercedes for himself, declared that he was "really surprised by how smooth it was". Hydrogen cars are beginning to move out of the prototype stage into the pre-commercialisation stage, and Herbert Kohler, vice-president of DaimlerChrysler's Body and Powertrain research unit used his speech at the HFP to announce that commercialisation of fuel-cell cars "will start in 2012".

Before that happens, however, there will need to be considerable progress. Kohler noted that improvements have to be made in reliability and durability, as well as in ensuring that hydrogen-powered cars can start at sub-zero temperatures. Perhaps the biggest obstacle in the way of widespread commercialisation of hydrogen cars is the absence of a proper infrastructure. Petrol cars can benefit from any one of 135,000 service stations across the EU, not to mention countless mechanics. Although there are now a handful of hydrogen stations in Europe, including the world's largest in Berlin, an infrastructure for hydrogen cars is still a long way off. Bentham is undeterred and assured everyone at the general assembly that part of the purpose of the HFP was to ensure that fuel providers and car manufacturers worked in tandem, rather than one lagging behind the other.

Nevertheless, there remains some concern about how such large quantities of hydrogen will be provided. Currently, some 95% of hydrogen is produced by re-forming natural gas - a process that releases carbon dioxide. Obviously, there is little point in developing super-clean cars if the fuel that powers them can only be obtained by polluting the atmosphere. There are some other alternatives, the most ecological of which involves separating water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, but these other alternatives all have rather large cost or practicality drawbacks as the technology currently stands.

A further worry for the future of hydrogen cars in Europe must be the rather lukewarm enthusiasm hydrogen technology has thus far received from member states. Although Potocnik, standing shoulder to shoulder with ministers from five member states last week, was keen to emphasise their commitment, others bemoan the EU's comparative scepticism. Comparing efforts in the EU to efforts in Japan, where the government has committed itself to having 50,000 fuel cell vehicles on the road by 2010 and invested some e250 million in the technology this year, Jean-Marc Tixhon of industry representative Fuel Cell Europe, observed that "this level of political engagement is unfortunately not yet seen in Europe". Even with so many of the leading developers of hydrogen car technology based in Europe, most speakers at the HFP's general assembly freely admitted that the EU had some catching up to do compared with Japan and the US.

Engineers and scientists are looking at hydrogen as an alternative fuel for cars. Hydrogen has the advantage of producing no emissions - just water vapour.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG Research: Research topics: The European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform http://ec.europa.eu/comm/research/energy/nn/nn_rt/nn_rt_hlg/article_1261_en.htm

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