WORLDWIDE – This month has seen a rush of developments toward the Holy Grail of freight and commercial transport, the clean, mean cheaper machine. The Hydrogen Fuel Cell, long lauded as the new superhero and saviour of the planet, seems to be developing nicely, and with names like Volvo, Suzuki and Honda in the frame this week, its time to sit up and take notice. Most interesting however, are a couple of less well known names from the UK and Canada. ACAL Energy, based in Cheshire are claiming that they have achieved record power output levels in the laboratory with their kilowatt-scale demonstrator which they say will lead to cell development and eventual replacement of many of the worlds conventional internal combustion engines. The company is devoted to production of engines exceeding 1kW using their patented catalysts resulting in a system which is 90% platinum free.
Meanwhile in Calgary scientists have published a paper on last years patented research showing their work studying a new material which allows the poly electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEM’s) to function at temperatures up to 150 °C. Currently cells can only produce energy from hydrogen below 90°C and the breakthrough means the possibility of using less valuable metals than platinum to produce the desired reaction.
So what does this mean to us mortals I hear you cry? Well the Tokyo Motor Show saw the unveiling of a fuel cell powered scooter from Suzuki. Working with the crew from the UK and US firm Intelligent Energy (they’re the people who provided the brains for the first fuel cell aircraft to Boeing) the “Burgman” provides emission free transport for one to follow their original cooperation on the experimental “Crosscage” motorcycle.
Very nice, you say, but what has this to do with freight transport and where would I fill it up? Well you could always move to Long Island where this week saw the opening of a new $2 million filling station for vehicles just like the Suzy and many more besides. Right across the States trials are ongoing involving various vehicles including Chevrolet SUV’s which, lets be honest, are moving up to light van size. The reduced range of the current crop of test vehicles, around 200 miles, means that an intensive network of such stations will be required before they become more widely available but that is not seen as a problem by the hydrogen advocates.
The zero carbon emissions see the Honda president driving his companies prototype hydrogen cell vehicle and Toyota have sworn to have a model on sale by 2015. But perhaps the most significant step forward occurred this week in Europe.
Fouriertransform, a Swedish government initiative to provide capital for such ventures made its first investment this week, and, significantly it was in a fuel cell technology company. Powercell, a subsidiary of Volvo AB pumped over $8.5 million into the operation for a chunk of shares. Volvo maintain control of Powercell and this is clearly a step towards their sworn objective to provide fuel cell driven power trains for their future truck designs.
pic: Another hydrogen powered "Burg" (Hindenburg not Burgman)
