Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc., based in Irvine, is selling fleets of hydrogen-fuel hybrid vehicles, said Andy Abele, executive director of strategic development.
Riverside became the first city in the Inland Empire to host a hydrogen-vehicle fueling station, which Quantum began operating Jan. 26. The station is used to fuel five hydrogen hybrid vehicles built and sold to the city by Quantum Fuel Systems. The station is available for all hydrogen powered vehicles.
Quantum also sold five hydrogen hybrid cars to the city of Ontario as a part of South Coast Air Quality Management District's $7 million clean air pilot program.
Quantum hopes the demonstrations in Riverside and Ontario will attract interest from fleet vehicle purchasers, Abele said. The key to selling the vehicles is teaching potential buyers about the benefits of using of hydrogen hybrid vehicles, he said.
"We want to demystify hydrogen and get ready to make hydrogen hybrids a much more accepted vehicle," Abele said.
"We're not looking to sell one or two," he said. "We're looking for fleets [purchasers] that would take about five vehicles - something we can set up a service contract to deal with," Abele said.
Businesses that use fleets to transport products and goods, such as courier and delivery services, are likely buyers of hybrid vehicles.
Atlas Courier Service LLC in Riverside subcontracts drivers that use their own cars to transport items. Though the company is small, hybrid vehicles are an appealing option for reducing gasoline and maintenance costs, manager Kathy Jones said.
Atlas uses three regular cars that cost about $20,000 a year in gas and maintenance, Jones said. But Jones leans toward hybrid electric vehicles because they are more convenient to fuel and less expensive to purchase, she said.
A hydrogen hybrid vehicle "would have to be realistic for us to use each day," Jones said.
Quantum's hybrid vehicles make use of an advanced hydrogen storage system and electronic controls, which makes them ultra-low-emissions vehicles. The hybrid's engine includes a turbocharger that enables it to operate as a conventional car.
Quantum's hybrid vehicles cost $80,000 to $100,000 each. The hydrogen hybrid vehicles are individually built.
"Hydrogen is not well known. People are used to going to their neighborhood gas station. Since hydrogen is less dense [than gasoline] there is a compromise in the range in refills," Abele said.
Hydrogen-hybrid fleets can be a hard sell because of their limitations, Abele said.
Because of the limited availability of hydrogen fuel, costs can spike up to $10 dollars a kilogram.
One kilogram of hydrogen fuel has about the same amount of energy as a gallon of gasoline.
The city of Riverside charges about $4.50 a kilogram at its new fueling station. By 2015, the Department of Energy expects hydrogen to cost about the same as gasoline.
Quantum manufactures only Toyota Prius hybrid electric vehicles that are individually converted to hydrogen electric power. The hydrogen vehicles get about 75 miles per tank of fuel compared with the traditional hybrid electric vehicle that gets about 300 miles per tank of fuel.
Because hydrogen hybrids are still in testing, it is unclear whether the vehicles are mechanically more efficient than gasoline-powered cars, Abele said.
United Parcel Service's Ontario distribution center uses alternative fuels spokeswoman Heather Robinson said.
UPS operates 469 compressed natural gas vehicles in California. The Ontario distribution center uses 45 compressed natural gas vehicles in its fleet.
UPS has spent $15 million on alternative fuel programs nationally since 1998, Robinson said.
The Ontario center is one of two UPS locations with hydrogen vehicles, which are still being tested.
The lack of hydrogen fueling stations is a challenge, Robinson said.
The U.S. Department of Energy hopes traditional gasoline stations will dispense hydrogen fuel when the combustible fuel becomes widely available to consumers, said Thomas Welch, a spokesman for the department.
If hydrogen hybrid vehicles are to become
a viable, alternative vehicle for commercial use, an infrastructure that
supports hydrogen vehicles must be in place, which includes more fueling
stations and incentive programs, Abele said. The Press-Enterprise
contributed to this report.