Hydrogen Highway
The hydrogen highway has been a vision of scientists and engineers
for many years. More recently, politicians have taken notice.
In fact, in 2003, George W. Bush promoted the idea of the hydrogen
highway in his State of the Union Address.
President Bush stated, "A simple chemical reaction between
hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power
a car producing only water, not exhaust fumes. With a new national
commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles
to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom so that the first
car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen,
and pollution-free. Join me in this important innovation to make
our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent
on foreign sources of energy."
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has also picked up
the H2 highway baton and is sponsoring the California
Hydrogen Highway Network Initiative. The Initiative has a
stated goal "…to support and catalyze a rapid transition
to a clean, hydrogen transportation economy in California, thereby
reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and protecting our citizens
from health harms related to vehicle emissions."
According to the governor's "Vision 2010" plan, the
goal is that every Californian by the end of the decade has access
to hydrogen fuel throughout the state. This means that California
will need to offer 150 to 200 hydrogen fueling stations along
the major highways for this vision to succeed. The California
Fuel Cell Partnership estimates that the initial cost for these
H2
fueling stations will be in the $75 million to $200 million
range. Currently, there are 16 hydrogen fueling stations in operation,
15 more planned for the near future and 95 hydrogen vehicles throughout
California.
The vision of the hydrogen highway can be accomplished using
two different sets of hydrogen propulsion technologies. The first
and cleanest technology is the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, which
takes in hydrogen (most likely compressed) and oxygen from the
air and the only byproduct is water (or steam coming out the tailpipe).
The second option is compressed hydrogen running through an internal
combustion engine (ICE). This method will take less developmental
efforts and may be a good first step to getting H2 vehicles on
the road until the fuel cell technology becomes more refined.
In fact, BMW has created a hydrogen-gasoline ICE hybrid vehicle
(BMW H2R) that has set land speed records of 185 mph and 0 - 60
acceleration in just 6 seconds. For the purpose of setting records,
the gasoline option was deactivated, but this same automobile
can switch back and forth between hydrogen and gasoline power
with the flip of a button.
The hydrogen highway will not be just about H2 cars, though.
A hydrogen Hummer has already been developed and in the future,
motor homes, buses, trucks and other vehicles will also make the
transition over the clean-burning hydrogen. It's just a matter
of time. As with all new emerging technologies, the costs right
now are high. But, as technological breakthroughs happen, prices
will come down and one day there will be a hydrogen car in every
garage.
I wonder what Henry Ford would say about a nation motoring around
on hydrogen vehicles?
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