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Gov. maps shift from gas to hydrogen

By Harold Lee

Feb. 2, 2004 9:00 p.m.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to establish a network of
hydrogen fueling stations throughout California by the end of the
decade.

His plan, known as Hydrogen Highways, would set up 200 fuel
stations, each spaced 20 miles apart, along major highways by
2010.

Though California is currently in a budget crisis, Hydrogen
Highways may be feasible with funds provided by private
sponsorship. These funds will help build some of the fueling
stations and pay for early costs, said the governor’s
environmental secretary in a Los Angeles Times article.

The hydrogen refilling stations, which would cost $250,000 to
$500,000 dollars each, may eventually help pay for themselves.

“Once California has 100 stations operating, the revenue
from those stations could finance the rest of the (100 fueling
stations),” said Michele St. Martin, director of
communications for the California Environmental Protection
Agency.

Despite Schwarzenegger’s high hopes, implementing a system
of hydrogen fueling stations may be difficult to achieve by 2010,
said William van Vorst, professor emeritus of chemical
engineering.

“I’m glad it’s in the governor’s mind,
but I’d hesitate to predict when there would be customers
waiting in line for it,” van Vorst said.

Hydrogen can be used to power vehicles through fuel cells or
through combustion. In the case of combustion, hydrogen fuel serves
the same role as gasoline in an internal combustion engine.

Combustion engines rely on small, controlled explosions of
hydrogen to help propel a vehicle.

Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, and, in the
process, produce electricity to power a vehicle. Both processes are
clean and produce only water as a by-product.

Both fuel cell and combustion systems require onboard supplies
of hydrogen, either in the form of highly compressed gas or
liquid.

In spite of mandates in the past designed to increase the use of
low and zero-emissions vehicles, the environment-friendly cars are
still a rarity in California.

For the first time, car companies are starting to pay attention
to hydrogen technology, which may help hydrogen vehicles see
widespread success.

“(Automakers) are investing in this technology because
they’re believing it to work,” St. Martin said.

Programs aimed to encourage clean and alternate forms of energy
are not new to California.

The California Air Resources Board requires that automakers
produce a quota of low and zero-emissions vehicles to be sold in
California. However, the programs failed to achieve widespread
popularity for the environment-friendly vehicles.

The failure of these existing programs, especially those
involving zero-emission vehicles, may be attributed to the previous
lack of support from car companies.

“Car companies weren’t interested in the electric
vehicle mandate,” St. Martin said, citing the low level of
consumer demand for the vehicles which require long recharge times
and can only travel 60 to 100 miles before charging again.

Currently, most major auto manufacturers are developing hydrogen
technology. Toyota, Honda and Nissan pledge to put a total of
50,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road by 2010.

The federal government is also helping to make hydrogen
technology more widespread by investing $1.7 billion in the Freedom
Car program over the next four years.

“It’s an excellent private-public partnership. (But)
this isn’t going to be an easy process and there will be
hurdles,” St. Martin said.

However, he continued, “environmentalists, automakers and
air quality officials are confident that the technology is
there.”

Hydrogen-powered vehicles may be much more convenient than their
electric counterparts, said Jim Heffel, who is the chief technology
officer for Hydrogen Car Company, which converts vehicles with
gasoline engines to run on hydrogen.

“With hydrogen you can fill up as quickly as (with)
gasoline,” Heffel said.

Hydrogen Car Company has managed to adapt several vehicles to
run on hydrogen, including a 1965 Shelby Cobra.

Components used in hydrogen combustion engines cost no more than
components used in gasoline engines, he said.

“If Ford made as many hydrogen combustion engines as
gasoline engines, they could do it at the same cost,” said
Heffel, who is also an adviser for the University of California
Riverside’s Center for Environmental Research and
Technology.

The U.S. Department of Energy predicts the price of the hydrogen
fuel itself ““ currently around $5 a gallon ““ will
decrease to a level comparable with gasoline by 2010.

When compressed, hydrogen is highly combustible, which some
believe could potentially compromise safety if it is applied to
moving vehicles.

But the volatility of this element is a misconception, and
hydrogen may prove to be even safer than gasoline, van Vorst
said.

“There have been accidents involving hydrogen tankers, but
the hydrogen just gets up and away,” he said, noting
hydrogen’s low density.

UCLA has also taken a role in the development of hydrogen
vehicles.

In 1972, a team of UCLA students, led by professors including
van Vorst, converted several vehicles to run on hydrogen for the
Urban Vehicle Design Competition.

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Harold Lee
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