Fuel cell vehicle future is nearing

[admin]

Groundwork being laid for rise of fuel cell cars

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  May 20, 2013
  
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Japan is gearing up to launch fuel cell vehicles as the next-generation of environmentally safer cars.

Oil distributors have started to establish hydrogen station networks, while the government is set to provide financial assistance and is considering deregulation to make it easier to set up the fuel supply networks.

Fuel cell vehicles are powered by electricity generated through chemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen. The only thing they emit from the reactions is water.

Electric vehicles need about half an hour to fully charge but can only travel about 200 km. A fuel cell vehicle, by contrast, only needs three minutes to refuel with 5 kg of hydrogen that allow it to travel more than 500 km.

It’s possible that fuel cell vehicles might replace electric vehicles, Toyota Motor Corp. Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada says. Toyota and Honda Motor Co. plan to release mass-market fuel cell vehicles in 2015, and Nissan Motor Co. will follow suit in 2017.

Competition is heating up for the development of lower-cost models. “Prices of below ¥10 million have now come into sight,” a Toyota official said.

By 2015, 13 companies including automakers and oil distributors aim to establish a total of 100 hydrogen supply bases, mainly in major cities.

JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp., one of the 13 firms, installed its first hydrogen supply equipment at a gas station in the city of Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April. The firm aims to set up such equipment at 40 places.

Gas trader Iwatani Corp. also plans to establish hydrogen supply stations at 20 locations.

About ¥500 million to ¥600 million is necessary to establish one hydrogen station, about six times the costs of an ordinary gas station. In fiscal 2013, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy started a subsidy program to cover half of the construction costs for each station.

The government’s Regulatory Reform Council, chaired by Motoyuki Oka, adviser at major trader Sumitomo Corp., has started discussions on deregulation measures, such as a hike in the limit on the amount of hydrogen that can be stored at supply stations.

[ArtM72]

Can't figure this out. Most hydrogen is produced from methane so why would the Japanese go to the extra expense of converting methane to hydrogen when you can simply burn the methane in your engines and turbines directly? You can of course generate hydrogen with electrolysis, but it isn't like Japan has a lot of excess electric generating capacity these days, and electrolytic production of hydrogen is still very inefficient.

Electric urban vehicles with off peak charging and cng/lng for longer distance driving just seems like a lot more practical way to get off gasoline and diesel than spending a ton of money on energy inefficient H2.

[admin]

I think it can be done with alternative energy, Art

Honda Solar Hydrogen Station Introduced to Green Car Market
News » Energy | Biofuels | Environment | Hydrogen | Solar | Transportation | Wind
February 26th, 2010 - View Comments

Honda Solar Hydrogen Station Honda finally unveiled their new solar hydrogen solar station and all signs point to a dramatic success. The station is smaller than previous models and enables an electric car owner to refill their fuel cell overnight. The unit should easily fit into a homeowners’ garage taking up significantly less space than previous models. The older model required a compressor and electrolyzer for it to be operational. One of the reasons the units were so big was because of the compressor that was required to run the unit. Not only that, the compressor was also the reason that the units were so expensive to produce and purchase.

Honda has totally changed the components of the unit and eliminated the need for the compressor and this new slim model is the result. The unit is also “smart grid friendly” and will not require any hydrogen storage for the fuel cell to recharge. Because of this, the Honda Solar Hydrogen Station will lower CO2 emissions even further and allow the car owner to use off peak electricity to recharge the car. This makes everything more cost effective all the way around.

The Honda Solar Hydrogen Station is built to recharge the car on an overnight 8-hour fill. The power that was replenished would typically power the car for a full day of average driving. In most cases, that single fill will be able to get just about anyone through their day and back home without having to worry about a recharge.

However, the design of this new station also has talked of setting up an actual string of charging stations that would enable someone to travel much longer distances. The station was built with fast fill capabilities and any car that has this technology would be able to benefit from the public charging stations.

The Honda FCX is just such a car and can travel 240 miles on a single fill and has the capability to do a fast fill in about five minutes. This dramatically increases the travel range of a car and if the traveler was able to find a location that would allow the car to have a slow 8-hour overnight fill, there would literally be no limitation to the distance that the car could travel.

Honda is continuing its development of this concept and the coast to coast fueling stations will likely become a reality before long. It is a matter of getting investors onboard to support the stations and then there is no telling what will happen.

[ArtM72]

I must have spent my previous lifetime in Missouri. I'd have to see this all work out by the numbers. Solar recharging of batteries to fire the electrolysis fuel cell at night? I don't doubt for a New York minute it can be done as all the components are pretty well established technologies. But think of the capital costs and energy transition inefficiencies! I bet the full setup starts at a cool million (US dollars), not including the dealer prep and whitewall tires.

[admin]

To be honest, I'm fairly sure I read something about it some time ago and I couldn't find that article anymore, I'll look into it. I can see your points though.