Posted on 10/06/2005 12:35:58 PM PDT by ckilmer
GM plans fuel-cell propulsion vehicles 06 October 2005
Author: Randolph Heaster Provider: The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Oct. 6--KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A future in which cars operate without using petroleum-based fuels, run hundreds of miles before refueling and emit only water is closer than you might think.
That was the message presented to about 150 people Tuesday by Larry Burns of General Motors Corp., who spoke at Midwest Research Institute. Burns, GM's vice president of research and development and strategic planning, discussed the automaker's progress toward producing a hydrogen-powered vehicle.
Burns said that GM stands by its previously stated goal of designing and validating a vehicle with a fuel-cell propulsion system that can compete with the traditional internal-combustion engine by 2010.
Fuel-cell vehicles run through power generated by combining hydrogen and oxygen. No exhaust or greenhouse gases would be emitted in its operation. The only byproduct is water.
"A fuel cell is like a battery, except it doesn't store electricity," Burns said. "You can create electricity with a fuel cell as long as you have hydrogen available."
In January, GM showcased a hydrogen-powered concept car, a five-seat sport utility vehicle called the Sequel, at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. Burns described it as the first fuel-cell vehicle whose performance is comparable to that of gasoline-powered cars. Burns said the Sequel can run for 300 miles before refueling, and it can accelerate to 60 mph in less than 10 seconds.
"We really do think we're going to revolutionize how people move around," he told the group at the institute's Arthur Mag Conference Center.
With gasoline prices reaching record levels this year and growing concern about the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, the public interest in alternative technologies for cars has risen. Consumers are showing more interest in hybrid vehicles, which run on a combination of gas and electricity.
Although GM is producing hybrids, Burns said, the long-term solution to the country's dependence on petroleum is making vehicles powered by hydrogen, which can be produced from a variety of sources.
But some analysts think that fuel-cell vehicles becoming a mainstream part of the automotive industry is still a long way down the road.
"It's a technology that all the vehicle manufacturers are pursuing and researching" said Anthony Pratt, senior manager of global powertrain at J.D. Power and Associates. "But we're still a ways away from a commercially viable hydrogen vehicle. With the current technology, the cost right now for a hydrogen vehicle would be so great that it wouldn't make economic sense for the consumer to buy it or the automaker to build it."
But Burns thinks that is rapidly changing. The technology to produce GM's Sequel is two years old, he said, and advances have since been made to produce fuel-cell vehicles more efficiently.
Currently, Burns said, the cost of producing the hydrogen for use in vehicles is 1.3 times the cost of producing gasoline for vehicle use. In addition, producing hydrogen also creates pollution.
"You may just be shifting the consumption of energy from the driver to the producer of hydrogen," Pratt noted.
However, GM thinks entrepreneurs who develop more efficient ways of producing hydrogen could solve that problem as the auto industry continues moving toward fuel-cell vehicles. In addition to hydrogen being produced from fossil fuels, Burns said, hydrogen can also be produced by nuclear, solar and wind power.
Another apparent problem is infrastructure in the distribution of hydrogen, whether in the form of a liquid or gas. Burns thinks liquid is the most practical form. GM has done a study showing that building about 12,000 hydrogen filling stations throughout the country's metropolitan areas would put a station within easy access of every driver of a fuel-cell vehicle. Also, a hydrogen station every 25 miles on the interstate could also be established.
Burns said GM estimated that would cost $12 billion.
"That would be one-half the cost of what it would take to build the Alaskan oil pipeline today," he said. "You don't need hydrogen at every filling station in the country to get started."
Burns also touted the fuel cell vehicle for having far fewer parts than a gasoline-powered vehicle, requiring much less maintenance.
"It's very simple from a mechanical standpoint," he said. "There are one-tenth as many moving parts on a fuel cell as there is on an internal combustion engine," he said.
-----
To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansascity.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
"Currently, Burns said, the cost of producing the hydrogen for use in vehicles is 1.3 times the cost of producing gasoline for vehicle use. In addition, producing hydrogen also creates pollution"
Well, its buried within the story, but at least he mentioned it.
and as long as you can keep it from freezing in the parking lot at work when it's 20 below zero in the winter.I might want one of these gizmos for summer if they were 1/4 as fast and fun and not 3X the cost of a motorcycle.
I would rather pay 1.3 times of the cost of gasoline than send my money to the Middle East...Get it done already!!!!!
They are?
Toyota is.
They'll be banned by Ragin-Ray Nagin?
Sorry, I couldn't resist the zing to that dolt.
What type of energy will they be using to produce the hydrogen?
Yup. Similar concept for electric cars. Too many folks think electricity just springs right out the ground.... just shove an extension cord into the earth and turn on the lights. duh.
If this is based on the true cost of producing gasoline and not the current speculation-inflated price of refined gasoline, it could be a heckuva savings.
Burns said that GM stands by its previously stated goal of designing and validating a vehicle with a fuel-cell propulsion system that can compete with the traditional internal-combustion engine by 2010.
Better get cracking, it's Q4 2005. If it's going to be manufacturable, they have three, maybe four years to go from science project to final design. Good luck.
Something about "GM" and "validation" in the same sentence gives me a chuckle.
This is why the promotion of nuclear power is so important. During off-peak hours, excess capacity can be utilized to produce hydrogen via electrolysis of water.
Goog question. The same could be asked of producing the sacred "ethenol fuel solution." I don't know.
Steam reforming, a reaction of natural gas (methane) or other light hydrocarbons (ethane or propane) with steam in the presence of a catalyst
Electrolysis of water, a process which transforms water into its elemental parts through the use of an electric current
Ammonia dissociation, the breaking up of ammonia into its simpler components, namely hydrogen and nitrogen
Partial oxidation, a reaction of hydrocarbons (such as natural gas, naphtha, petroleum coke or coal) with oxygen to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide
In addition, hydrogen is obtained as a byproduct of some refining and chemical production processes.
The method that most seem to prefer is the electrolysis of water. Differant methods will produce differant pollutants, but the major pollutant is caused from the energy needed to process the hydrogen.
You quazzie wabbit! I laughed my ass off when I saw that. So my Beemer will go BOOM!
NAH.. that would be too simple.. or even gasoline or diesel which is the best hydrogen storage mediums known..
GM has several hybrid products...
not that you would ever know it!
The price of oil will have to drop,imagine the oil producing countries seeing their market slowly dry up. They will certainly get in a race to sell what they have while they still can.Obviously the need for oil will always be with us ,but not nearly the amount we use now if vehicles eventually stop burning it.
I heard all their R&D goes into pensions & healthcare.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.