The Obama Administration’s 2010 Department of Energy budget put forward a cut in the federal hydrogen fuel cell research and deployment by more than two thirds ($130million). However, California Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols wants that funding back.
She met with US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and followed that meeting with a letter urging the continuation of funding to support research, development and deployment of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This is despite the fact that Chu, in an interview with MIT Technology Review, stated that “four miracles” would be required for fuel cells to become viable: relating to their durability and cost; production; storage; and distribution infrastructure.
According to the Air Resources Board analysis, most vehicles on the road in 2050 will need to be electric drive or ultra-low carbon fuel vehicles - that is electricity or hydrogen - if the 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases is to be achieved.
That prompted Nichols to attach a summary of how each of the “four miracles” could be met:
Cost - She outlined that durability has improved and costs reduced through research and development. Fuel cell vehicles are expected to be cost competitive with other advanced technologies and are approaching the cost of advanced hybrids even with current designs.
Production - A well-to-wheels analysis by the Department of Energy found that using hydrogen from natural gas would mean the emission of 63 per cent fewer greenhouse gases than today’s petrol vehicles and 37 per cent fewer than natural gas vehicles.
Storage - There are already 140 fuel cell vehicles that have accumulated more than 85,000 hours of operation and 1.9 million miles in real world testing.
Infrastructure - The letter outlined that when produced in high volume, hydrogen can be made efficiently from a number of feedstocks including natural gas, biomass and coal. The National Research Council has estimated it would cost $2.2million to build a hydrogen fuelling station that could support 1,500 FCVs - the equivalent of $1,500 per vehicle. Meanwhile, according to an Idaho National Laboratory estimate, the average cost of a 240V circuit needed for a PHEV-30 or PHEV-40 would be $1,500-$2,100.
We want to know your views on this issue. Should more money be invested into hydrogen fuel cell vehicles or was the US Government right to cut its funding? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
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