Showing that fuel-cell cars don't have to be boring, this sleek sedan is the next generation FCX fuel-cell vehicle from Honda.
While it is true that we shouldn't be holding our breath, every major automaker has a program for fuel-cell vehicles, and the federal development dollars keep rolling in. Far from just gracing the rotating platforms of car shows, fuel-cell prototypes are among us in the real world.
DaimlerChrysler has some 60 prototypes going through field testing on European roads; General Motors has handed over its Sequel fuel-cell SUV to Marines at Camp Pendleton; Honda has leased a number of its FCXs to "average" Americans (including teen movie star Q'orianka Kilcher); and Nissan has placed its X-Trail FCV in the white-gloved hands of a limo company in Japan for some real-world feedback. Even Toyota, a company known to be skeptical of the hydrogen promise, has been spotted testing its fuel-cell-endowed Highlander in Death Valley.
The Downside
Critics of hydrogen fuel cells tend to focus on three things. The first is that they are mighty expensive, even for prototypes. Indeed, GM's Sequel costs about $1 million each. Honda's FCXs that are in the hands of a few chosen leasers also cost about a million.
One of the reasons fuel cells are so pricey is because splitting hydrogen to make electricity requires a catalyst, and the best-known catalyst is platinum. While there have been some intriguing advances in alternatives, for now, platinum is it.
The second major claim against automotive fuel cells is that they are, simply put, a waste of energy. While it is true that hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it prefers not to make itself readily available, and electrolysis is needed to free it up for use.
Electrolysis requires electricity and therefore hydrogen essentially serves as a carrier for that energy until the moment you tap the pedal. Energy is lost at each stage of the process and some estimates put that energy loss as high as 75% or more. For this reason, many argue that the fuel-cell middleman ought to be cut out, and the power used in electrolysis be sent straight to the vehicle. Furthermore, since the energy to make the hydrogen usually comes from natural gas, some say the hydrogen highway looks a lot like the fossil fuel freeway with a new on-ramp.
The third criticism is that more efficient and more attainable technologies are already here. If automakers and governments are serious about cleaning up emissions and protecting the climate, they would make these a priority. Electric cars and advanced hybrids aren't yet on the market either, but by most accounts they are quite close. Two well-funded independent startups, Tesla Motors and Zap!, appear to be close to selling electrics that charge quickly and offer respectable mileage between charges.
Other Alternatives
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, may be even closer to commercial reality than their pure electric brethren. After being charged from a conventional electrical outlet, a plug-in hybrid will go some 20 to 30 miles on its oversized battery pack, after which a small internal combustion engine then kicks in to either help power the wheels or simply recharge the battery.
No, you can't buy a plug-in hybrid yet, but General Motors and Toyota have professed plug-in ambitions. Proponents argue that, unlike fuel cells, plug-in hybrids are technologically and financially feasible today, not ten years from now, and that automakers need only say the word.
Joseph Romm, in his 2004 book, "The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate," painted fuel-cell cars as not only unrealistic in the near term, but dangerously distracting. Today, he says he is even more dubious than he was a few years ago. Romm ran the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under President Clinton and knows a thing or two about how clean technologies stack up.
"The problem with hydrogen," he says, "is that you have to buy this expensive electrolyzer to convert the renewable electricity to hydrogen, then you need an infrastructure to deliver it, then you need a new fueling station to cram the hydrogen onboard your expensive fuel cell car, that just converts the hydrogen back to electricity."
Much more logical, says Romm, is to simply "string a power line" to your car and charge a big battery.
Why Use Fuel Cells
But why are automakers and the government so keen to push fuel cells and not electric cars or plug-in hybrids? According to Romm, if Detroit can convince us that fuel cells are the answer, all we have to do is wait a decade until salvation arrives. "Certainly General Motors has argued that they shouldn't be forced to do mundane things like fuel efficiency because they're working on this holy-grail technology."
Furthermore, the Bush administration "likes the idea of a car that's ten to fifteen years away." But Romm points out that even the president's favor has drifted to plug-ins and ethanol. To be fair, General Motors is the only carmaker thus far to show the world a plug-in hybrid proof-of-concept—the Chevy Volt—but the proof will be in the pudding, or the plugging, as the case may be.
However, according to one of the world leaders in fuel-cell production, Ballard Power Systems, the debate between hydrogen and electric-powered cars is a false one. "There is a sense out there that fuel cells and batteries are competing, when really I think that they're complementary technologies," said Ballard corporate PR rep Rebecca Young.
Take the Ford Edge HySeries Concept as an example, she says. The HySeries is a plug-in hybrid that can be charged from a home electric outlet, but it's a Ballard Mark909 fuel cell, not an internal combustion engine, that is on standby to recharge the 336-volt lithium-ion battery pack. Far from drag-racing to the green checkered flag, it seems fuel cells and big batteries can carpool happily.
It's hard to say when or if the fuel-cell debate will be put to bed. Some predict it will be the moment a respectable plug-in hybrid hits the street. More likely, if fuel cells don't end up in cars, they'll find other homes, possibly yours.
In Japan, hundreds of families already use hydrogen fuel cells to power and heat their houses. In fact, don't be too surprised if in five years, the fuel cell that gives you electricity and hot water at home also charges the electric car in your driveway.
Jacob Gordon is a freelance writer, a blogger for TreeHugger.com, and producer of TreeHugger Radio. He can be reached at by jacob@treehugger.com.
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