Business was slow to start with - just a single prototype van.
Posted on 04/25/2003 2:45:08 PM PDT by yankeedame
Thursday, 24 April, 2003
Iceland's landmark gas station
by David Bamford
BBC correspondent
Business was slow to start with - just a single prototype van.
What has been billed by the Icelandic Government as the world's first filling station for hydrogen-powered vehicles has opened in the capital, Reykjavik. It is the first stage of a European Union-sponsored project that will see stations open in the next few months across Europe.
Iceland's industry minister called the Reykjavik opening a milestone in pollution-free transportation that would show the world that hydrogen was a real commercial possibility.
This first station is not expected to do a roaring trade just yet - there was only a single prototype van on hand in need of a refill.
But in the coming months, the first of Iceland's hydrogen-powered buses goes into service and under the EU programme similar stations will open in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Sweden.
Minivan fleet
Even the petrol-hungry United States has recognised the potential for clean, hydrogen vehicles which emit nothing but water vapour.
President George W Bush, in his State of the Union address in January, announced his own $1.7bn development programme.
Nevertheless, it will be at least a decade before the industry starts to become viable.
General Motors is shortly to launch a fleet of six hydrogen minivans costing $1m each.
But, the optimists say, it is the way of the future and by 2013 one-third of all new cars sold could be hydrogen powered.
Where will the mainland get their hydrogen? Iceland is using water electrolysis, but a more efficient source is natural gas.
Is the H2 being stored as a cryogenic liquid? Boiloff, insulation and low density (11 times less dense than gasoline) mean the tank will be huge for any sort of range.
If the H2 is being stored as a high-pressure gas, the situation is much worse: the tank will be GIGANTIC.
Unless you're satisfied with a range of 50 miles per fill-up.
Imagine citizens pumping cryogenic H2 at something like -421 F at 'filling stations'.
Imagine 10000-psi gaseous H2 bottles in a collision.
--Boris
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