Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and is virtually inexhaustible. Hydrogen powers the sun that has given the earth its heat energy since the beginning of time.
Hydrogen energy use with the abundance of hydrogen and the ability to produce hydrogen fuel cells for energy consumption:
What would it require for Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles to be an accepted mode of transportation in the US?
One major issue that the U.S. is facing is changing our existing transportation infrastructure to hydrogen; however, that takes funding. Who will pay for it?
It is a matter of cost, hydrogen vs oil, cost of the vehicle itself, and whether the state will provide hydrogen services. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been accepted mode of transportation in the U.S. but only in a few states such as California (Consumer Energy Center 2012). From 2000-2005, 95 light-duty fuel cell vehicles were placed in California and traveled more than 220,000 miles on California's roads and highways. These cars are still being tested and are available to a few fleets and consumers. Fuel cell buses are being tested at Sun Line Transit in Thousand Palms, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit (AC Transit), and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (Santa Clara VTA). The buses began operation in 2005. Buses are being tested at Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the University of California at Davis.
Several companies as AT&T, FedEx, PepsiCO, UPS, and Verizon are teaming up with the Department of Energy (DOE) through the National Clean Fleets Partnership to convert their vehicles from conventional gasoline over to hydrogen (U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2012). Several global automakers are doing their part to assist with the transportation industry by converting vehicles to fuel cell vehicles (FCV) such as Daimler, Ford, GM/Opel, Honda, Hyundai/KIA, Renault/Nissan and Toyota, with a number of FCVs being commercialized by 2015. However, U.S. automakers haven't caught up with hydrogen technology and remains behind countries like Japan and Germany for fuel cell development. The reason for the U.S. antiquated fuel system is due to lack of fueling stations across the country. A mature fleet will require 11,000 stations coast to coast at a cost of $20 billion to $25 billion, according to General Motors. The U.S. is standing up against Washington and oil companies that rival hydrogen (Levine 2012).
Fortunately, the oil companies may have to cooperate due to the driving force behind large automobile companies that are producing FCVs especially in the transit bus system. The sales for fuel cell transit buses will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31.7% by 2015. Fuel cell light vehicles will be commercially launched in 2014 in most regions of the world, and their sales will reach almost 670,000 vehicles per year by 2020. Pike Research forecasts that Western Europe will be the leading region for FCV sales with a 37% share of the world market, followed closely by Asia Pacific with 36%. FCV sales in North America will represent approximately 25% of global sales during the period from 2014 to 2020. The cleantech market intelligence firm anticipates that FCV revenues will reach $23.9 billion annually by 2020. This means that oil companies may lose out in the long-run over consumer demands and if/when individual states go ahead with hydrogen and leave the federal government behind (Addison 2011).
Addison, John. 2011. Hyundai making 2,000 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. Cleantech. September 13. http://www.cleantechblog.com/2011/09/hyundai-making-2000-hydrogen-fuel-cell-electric-vehicles.html (accessed July 24, 2012).
Consumer Energy Center. 2012. Fuel cell vehicles. California Energy Commsion. http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/transportation/fuelcell/index.html (accessed July 24, 2012).
Levine, Steve. 2012. Giving hydrogen fuel-cells cars another chance. Slate. May 17. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/05/hydrogen_fuel_cell_vehicles_and_the_obama_administration_.2.html (accessed July 24, 2012).
United States (U.S.) Chamber of Commerce. 2012.
National clean fleets partnership announced. http://www.uschamber.com/feed/national-clean-fleets-partnership-announced (accessed July 24, 2012).
Hydrogen energy use with the abundance of hydrogen and the ability to produce hydrogen fuel cells for energy consumption:
What would it require for Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles to be an accepted mode of transportation in the US?
One major issue that the U.S. is facing is changing our existing transportation infrastructure to hydrogen; however, that takes funding. Who will pay for it?
It is a matter of cost, hydrogen vs oil, cost of the vehicle itself, and whether the state will provide hydrogen services. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been accepted mode of transportation in the U.S. but only in a few states such as California (Consumer Energy Center 2012). From 2000-2005, 95 light-duty fuel cell vehicles were placed in California and traveled more than 220,000 miles on California's roads and highways. These cars are still being tested and are available to a few fleets and consumers. Fuel cell buses are being tested at Sun Line Transit in Thousand Palms, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit (AC Transit), and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (Santa Clara VTA). The buses began operation in 2005. Buses are being tested at Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the University of California at Davis.
Several companies as AT&T, FedEx, PepsiCO, UPS, and Verizon are teaming up with the Department of Energy (DOE) through the National Clean Fleets Partnership to convert their vehicles from conventional gasoline over to hydrogen (U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2012). Several global automakers are doing their part to assist with the transportation industry by converting vehicles to fuel cell vehicles (FCV) such as Daimler, Ford, GM/Opel, Honda, Hyundai/KIA, Renault/Nissan and Toyota, with a number of FCVs being commercialized by 2015. However, U.S. automakers haven't caught up with hydrogen technology and remains behind countries like Japan and Germany for fuel cell development. The reason for the U.S. antiquated fuel system is due to lack of fueling stations across the country. A mature fleet will require 11,000 stations coast to coast at a cost of $20 billion to $25 billion, according to General Motors. The U.S. is standing up against Washington and oil companies that rival hydrogen (Levine 2012).
Fortunately, the oil companies may have to cooperate due to the driving force behind large automobile companies that are producing FCVs especially in the transit bus system. The sales for fuel cell transit buses will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31.7% by 2015. Fuel cell light vehicles will be commercially launched in 2014 in most regions of the world, and their sales will reach almost 670,000 vehicles per year by 2020. Pike Research forecasts that Western Europe will be the leading region for FCV sales with a 37% share of the world market, followed closely by Asia Pacific with 36%. FCV sales in North America will represent approximately 25% of global sales during the period from 2014 to 2020. The cleantech market intelligence firm anticipates that FCV revenues will reach $23.9 billion annually by 2020. This means that oil companies may lose out in the long-run over consumer demands and if/when individual states go ahead with hydrogen and leave the federal government behind (Addison 2011).
Addison, John. 2011. Hyundai making 2,000 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. Cleantech. September 13. http://www.cleantechblog.com/2011/09/hyundai-making-2000-hydrogen-fuel-cell-electric-vehicles.html (accessed July 24, 2012).
Consumer Energy Center. 2012. Fuel cell vehicles. California Energy Commsion. http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/transportation/fuelcell/index.html (accessed July 24, 2012).
Levine, Steve. 2012. Giving hydrogen fuel-cells cars another chance. Slate. May 17. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/05/hydrogen_fuel_cell_vehicles_and_the_obama_administration_.2.html (accessed July 24, 2012).
United States (U.S.) Chamber of Commerce. 2012.
National clean fleets partnership announced. http://www.uschamber.com/feed/national-clean-fleets-partnership-announced (accessed July 24, 2012).
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