Mar 5 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Kurt Blumenau The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

California beat the East Coast onto the hydrogen highway. Now automakers, energy companies and government agencies are making plans to catch up.

Those players, working together and apart, want to bring stations that pump fuel into hydrogen-powered cars to the Interstate 95 corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C. California's "Hydrogen Highway" project, launched two years ago by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has already spurred the development of a station network there.

"On a state-by-state basis, we can't compete with California," said Andre Van Rest, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Coalition advocacy group. "As a region, we can."

Three years ago, President Bush chose hydrogen as America's brightest future energy source. Hydrogen gas can be run through devices called fuel cells to make pollution-free electricity. The substance can also be used in converted internal combustion engines, which are cleaner than gasoline cars but not as clean as fuel-cell models.

Automakers are testing early stage hydrogen cars but do not expect to start selling them until next decade. If hydrogen reaches its potential, it could ease America's reliance on imported oil and greatly reduce automotive pollution.

California has 21 working hydrogen stations, where new technology is tested everyday. But the I-95 corridor has only one, in Washington, D.C., despite the region's concentration of people and political power.

The drive for an East Coast hydrogen corridor is also in early stages. Van Rest's agency, the most active regional group discussing the matter, has not set goals for the number of stations it hopes to see or when a hydrogen car might be able to travel the length of the highway.

The absence of East Coast stations doesn't matter yet to the average driver, since hydrogen-powered cars remain far from the market. The cars lack the reliability or range of gasoline-powered models, traveling anywhere from 150 to 300 miles per tank.

But an East Coast hydrogen network would likely convince automakers to send more cars here for research. It could give everyday drivers a chance to see the cars in action, possibly a major step toward easing public acceptance of the new fuel.

"There is a significant percentage of the U.S. population along that corridor, and therefore, there's a great opportunity to educate," said Ed Kiczek, senior business development manager for future energy solutions at Air Products and Chemicals.

Air Products, of Trexlertown, also stands to benefit from an East Coast hydrogen corridor. The company ranks as the world's largest hydrogen supplier and a leading designer and builder of fueling stations. It is involved in many California stations, and officials expect to play a similar role on the East Coast.

Some stations consist of a single hydrogen pump added to an existing gasoline and diesel station. Other hydrogen stations are stand-alone pumps, sometimes built in city public-works yards where fleet vehicles fill up.

A regional hydrogen corridor faces significant challenges. The East Coast has no charismatic Schwarzenegger figure promoting growth. Construction is not confined to one state, which means the building process may differ from place to place.

And, of course, cost is a factor. Early stations have cost up to $1 million each to build. Energy companies such as Shell Hydrogen, which runs the Washington station, hope state governments will pick up some of the tab on the East Coast. That's how it works in California, whose Hydrogen Highway program calls for the construction of 50 to 100 stations by 2010.

The East Coast hasn't been asleep at the hydrogen wheel over the past few years. Some states, including Connecticut and New York, have approved or proposed hydrogen road maps of their own.

And a handful of isolated Northeast stations have been built. Penn State University has an Air Products-equipped station that fuels buses in State College. A station in Albany, N.Y., fuels a pair of Honda vehicles used by state government. And Air Products plans to build a station in Trexlertown this year, to fuel a pair of buses coming to the Lehigh Valley.

Still, the I-95 corridor stands out as an underdeveloped area for hydrogen backers. Millions of people live, work and drive there, including Capitol Hill lawmakers and cultural pacesetters.

"You look at trends in our society, and where do you see trendsetters?" General Motors spokesman Scott Fosgard asked. "They're in California, and they're in New York -- for fashion, for design, for acceptance of new concepts."

Shell Hydrogen is in early talks for a station in Westchester County, N.Y., spokesman Tim O'Leary said. The company wants to build another station or two connecting Washington and New York, possibly including one in Philadelphia.

Van Rest's group, the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Coalition, is bringing together energy officials from six states and the District of Columbia to talk about the kind of hydrogen network they hope to see. Van Rest said early meetings have gone well, though the group is still taking its first steps.

Van Rest's group also wants to develop a single set of codes and standards for station construction -- a project the U.S. Department of Energy is also tackling. That would eliminate differences from one city or state to the next, he said.

Air Products would likely not serve as a leader in construction. The Trexlertown company sells its technology to clients -- including Shell Hydrogen -- but generally does not build stations on its own, officials said.

"We do not contemplate getting into ... the retail business," Kiczek said.

Experts say stations here will not develop on the same model used in California. Instead of evenly spaced stations coordinated by one government agency, the network will probably build up in clusters, set up independently by carmakers and energy companies.

No matter how it develops, an East Coast hydrogen corridor is expected to give hydrogen research another push forward.

GM's Fosgard said that network would offer new opportunities for cold-weather testing. Researchers are trying to build hydrogen cars' reliability and durability to the same standards as gasoline cars.

"We're going to need a northern climate to learn as we go," said Fosgard, whose company has six hydrogen vans in Washington, D.C.

Other automakers seem interested in bringing cars east. Honda spokesman Chris Naughton said his company would consider doing so if more stations were built. Fourteen of Honda's 16 U.S. hydrogen cars are in California.

Nissan also keeps its fuel-cell cars in northern California, where its U.S. headquarters are, spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said. Those cars may head east anyway: The company is moving its U.S. headquarters from California to the Nashville, Tenn., area.

The East Coast would also serve as additional proving grounds for new station technology.

Air Products is trying three different ways to stock its stations: Some make hydrogen on-site, some get it trucked in from elsewhere, and at least one will pipe the gas in from a nearby factory. All three may have a use in the hydrogen economy, but early tests will help decide which works best.

Then, there's the public relations benefit of bringing hydrogen to the masses. Experts warn the stations will have to be visible to the public, not tucked away at off-limits or out-of-the-way sites.

"The key is to have it someplace where the public can have ready access to it, not to have it behind a fence somewhere," said Venki Raman, an industry consultant from Emmaus and former top hydrogen official at Air Products.

Time pressure is slowly mounting. GM hopes to start selling hydrogen vehicles in 2010, a goal that will be impossible without at least a minimal scattering of fuel stations to serve them.

The East Coast may not be caught up to California by then, in terms of numbers of stations. But the growing interest on this side of the country suggests the gap will narrow.