Meanwhile, according to Patrick Serfass, vice president of the Hydrogen Education Association, the American political climate has stymied progress on fuel-cell vehicles. Maxwell says GM’s last estimates for its Chevrolet Sequel, a prototype fuel-cell SUV revealed in 2007, were that the vehicle would travel 300 miles on about 8 kilograms of hydrogen compressed to 700 bar-twice the pressure, and hence twice the effective fuel capacity, of any other fuel-cell vehicle at the time. One problem is that the transmission systems in fuel-cell vehicles use a lot of energy, cutting efficiency. What’s more, the technology isn’t quite living up to the hype, according to Timothy Maxwell, a mechanical engineering professor at Texas Tech University. The announced starting price for the plug-in Prius Plug-In is just $32,000. Its target for a consumer rollout a few years hence is $50,000-but a new gasoline-hybrid Prius starts at around $23,500, and the company plans to launch a version that also allows “plug-in charging” in 14 states next spring. Toyota’s hydrogen-powered car costs more than $120,000. Consumer fuel-cell vehicles will initially cost much more than comparably sized non-hydrogen vehicles. Price is another reason hydrogen seems to have fallen out of favor. A spokesperson for the company said in an e-mail that its highly publicized Singapore retail station stopped producing hydrogen a while back, and the company is now favoring biofuels. But, he adds, “they have also been clear that early rollout will be in areas that have adequate refueling infrastructure.” This demonstrates the chicken-and-egg problem that has plagued fuel-cell cars for over a decade: carmakers fear there won’t be a market unless consumers have easy access to hydrogen fuel stations, but there’s little incentive for entrepreneurs to build stations without cars to fill.Īlthough the automotive industry continues to insist that fuel-cell vehicles will be retail-ready in the next few years, hydrogen is simply not the alternative fuel of choice, even for companies seeking to burnish their image.Įnergy giant BP, for example, has abandoned hydrogen. The company, founded as Proton Energy, rebranded itself as Proton OnSite in April when it increased its offerings from hydrogen production systems to include nitrogen generators, tanks, and compressors.įriedland says automakers have expressed definite intentions to introduce production fuel-cell vehicles sometime in 2014 or 2015. But clearly the company is also responding to the less-than-humming hydrogen-energy business climate. “ would allow automakers to sell their vehicles in that geographic location because the refueling need for the local vehicles would be satisfied,” Friedland says. He explains the change as having been dictated by the needs of carmakers. Proton’s cofounder and CEO Robert Friedland says the company is still planning to roll out SunHydro stations, but in clusters within cities rather than as individual stations hundreds of miles apart. ![]() SunHydro also uses water as its starting point for producing hydrogen, splitting the molecules into hydrogen and oxygen by means of solar power, theoretically making the whole fuel chain ecologically sound. The fuel cells convert the energy stored in hydrogen into electricity, yielding water vapor as the only byproduct. If you choose to do business with this business, please let the business know that you contacted BBB for a BBB Business Profile.Īs a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business.Fuel-cell cars are ultimately electric cars, but they use hydrogen as fuel. ![]() BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.īBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles. BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. ![]() BBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.īBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |