First Mass US Crossing for Hydrogen Cars Completed
US: August 26, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Hydrogen fuel cell cars from nine automakers completed a
13-day cross-country trip this weekend, in the first such mass US crossing
for vehicles powered by a zero-emission technology still in its infancy.
As firsts go, the event, which ran from Portland, Maine, to to the Los
Angeles Coliseum, probably would not qualify for the record books. There
were stretches without hydrogen fueling stations when the vehicles were
carried on flatbed trucks, the longest from Rolla, Missouri, to Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
But then one of the goals of the "Hydrogen Road Tour '08" was to demonstrate
the need to build more fueling stations if the nascent technology is to
develop, said Paul Brubaker, administrator for research and innovative
technology for the US Department of Transportation.
There are about 60 hydrogen stations in the United States, and only two are
open to the public without prior arrangement.
The industry- and taxpayer-sponsored tour stopped in 31 cities in 18 states.
Backers included two hydrogen producers, Air Products and Linde, which hope
to become household names if hydrogen becomes a key to transportation.
Catherine Dunwoody, executive director of major tour supporter California
Fuel Cell Partnership, said fueling stations will develop first in big
cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C.
"There's a lot of curiosity about these vehicles," Dunwoody said near the
finish line in Los Angeles on Saturday. "As we got to Allentown,
Pennsylvania, people lined up and cheered."
The partnership she heads is based near California's capital, Sacramento,
and funded by public and private funds.
"There's a hunger out there for clean, safe vehicles," Brubaker said. "The
common refrain everywhere we went was 'Where do we get these cars.'"
For most people, the answer is nowhere soon. Honda Motor Co has begun
leasing about 200 FXC Clarity fuel-cell autos in Southern California and
General Motors Corp is testing about 100 fuel-cell Chevy Equinox SUVs on the
road.
But those deployments, as well as the autos in the road tour, are
experimental, since the technology is not ready for showrooms. Carmakers
have spent billions on their development in hopes of capitalizing on a
public desire to buy cleaner cars and a US push to reduce its dependence on
foreign oil.
The United States consumes about a quarter of the world's oil, and imports
70 percent of its crude. Cars and trucks consume 44 percent of oil used in
the country and contribute about a fifth of the carbon dioxide emissions.
CO2 makes up nearly 90 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions.
Even in a best-case scenario, automakers will only sell about 2 million
electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2020, a study by the
National Research Council found.
Cars on the tour came from Honda, GM, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co, BMW
AG, Daimler AG, Hyundai Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co, and Volkswagen AG.
Linde and Air Products showed off their hydrogen-making machines to the
public and at times refueled the autos.
The idea for the tour originated with Brubaker when he watched a Ken Burns
documentary, "Horatio's Drive," at the same time that he was reading a
biography of Dwight Eisenhower.
The Eisenhower biography mentioned the future president's cross-country trip
as a young man, when he noticed long stretches without paved roads. When he
was president in the 1950s, Eisenhower started the US interstate highway
system.
Burns documented the 1903 drive of Horatio Nelson Jackson who, on a bet,
crossed the country in a 20-horsepower Winton car hoping to be the first to
make the trip in an automobile. His journey from San Francisco to New York
took 64 days. (Editing by Braden Reddall)
Story by Bernie Woodall
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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