We are duelling with a crush of city traffic along Fourth Avenue in trendy Kitsilano as a steady rain slaps against the windscreen of a nondescript little city runabout that, in the words of Gerhard Schmidt, Ford vice-president of research and engineering, is "even more precious than a Ferrari."
Except if you have a quarter-million dollars or so you can buy a Ferrari right now. Not this Ford Focus fuel-cell vehicle, one of five hydrogen-powered cars taking part in a three-year demonstration project launched in late March.
Despite the feverish promises of various chief executive officers and other corporate types back in the 1990s, you and I cannot write a cheque for a "green" hydrogen fuel-cell car to mark Earth Day tomorrow.
As recently as 1999, officials from Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Burnaby, B.C.-based Ballard Power Systems were projecting fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) would be in dealerships by last year. Promises, promises. No, you will not find zero-polluting FCVs for sale anywhere. In fact, only about 500 FCVs are in experimental use in the whole world. Ferrari, for the record, sells several thousand cars a year.
My precious little ride is a test car to be used by B.C. Transit, which is part of a consortium participating in a five-year, $9-million "initiative" to test FCVs in real-world conditions. Other partners include the federal government, Ford, Fuel Cells Canada and the Government of British Columbia.
Power for this third-generation Focus FCV comes from the Ballard Mark 902 fuel-cell stack, Ballard's latest in a series dating back to the early 1990s. Last month, at the National Hydrogen Association's annual conference in Washington, Ballard officials unveiled a timetable for making fuel-cell technology feasible by 2010.
Ballard is also saying it will demonstrate a commercially viable fuel-cell "stack" within five years. General Motors is also aiming to put commercial FCVs on the road by 2010. In fact, most major auto makers are working on developing the technology.
At about the same time Ballard was proclaiming its plans in March, GM and DaimlerChrysler announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop FCVs over the next five years. GM plans to build a fleet of 40 FCVs and distribute them in Washington, New York, California and Michigan.
DaimlerChrysler, which is already testing 100 Ballard-powered FCVs in various locations around the world, plans to place FCVs with consumers in order to learn about performance in everyday driving. Toyota and Honda also have very active fuel-cell programs.
A fuel cell produces electricity by combining fuel and air in an electrochemical reaction. A fuel-cell stack contains many fuel cells working together to create significant amounts of electrical energy. In a vehicle like the Focus I am piloting, the electricity is used to run electric motors that turn the wheels.
Electronic control systems manage the whole complicated process of generating electricity, channelling it through to the wheels through electric motors and keeping this finicky drivetrain cool.
Yes, FCVs are complex -- vastly more so than we were led to believe five and six years ago. So, in what is clearly a bid to reassure a variety of communities -- investors, governments, environmentalists, potential consumers, to name four -- Ballard officials say they will use targets similar to ones set by the U.S. Energy Department to create durable, reliable, cost-effective fuel cells capable of starting in freezing conditions.
Since 2003, the United States has been pushing a five-year, $1.7-billion (U.S.) research program to develop hydrogen as America's next energy source. In Canada, federal officials say the government has invested more than $200-million (Canadian) to develop hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies.
All sorts of groups are involved. Natural Resources Canada is one, as well as the National Research Council, through its Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation.
Perhaps Ballard will be successful in the end. After all, fuel-cell technology is not new and most problems at least in a broad sense have been known not just for years, but for decades. Fuel cells date back to the 19th century and have been used in a number of applications since, including the Apollo moon missions.
Unfortunately, there are few viable commercial applications. One barrier is the high cost of making fuel cells, which use precious metals as the key catalyst in creating the electrochemical reaction that creates electricity.
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