HyWeb: News - Hydrogen-Gazette Archives I/00

HyWeb, 00-03-31: H-Tec of Lübeck, Germany, presented a small, compact PEM electrolysis stack at the Joint Presentation Hydrogen & Fuel Cells at this year’s Hanover Fair (Germany) on March 20 to 25. The stack is only 60 x 44 x 37 mm³ in size, has an electric power input of 500 W and delivers approximately 2 Nl/min or 0.12 Nm³/h hydrogen (preliminary data provided by H-TEC).

In addition to small PEM electrolysers, small PEM fuel cell stacks are presently a focus of development at H-TEC.

H-TEC has a large range of educational and demonstration systems on fuel cell and hydrogen technology.

HyWeb, 00-03-31: General Motors has quit the Global Climate Coalition, according to a company press release dated March 15. This was shortly after Texaco (HyWeb, 00-03-07) and DaimlerChrysler (HyWeb, 00-01-18) had left the associastion, that had been founded in order to prevent the implementation of measures to protect the global climate and that concentrates on impeding the implementation of the Kioto Protocoll.

Dr. Hans-Dieter Harig, CEO of PreussenElektra AG (Germany), Energy Summit at Hanover Fair March 22, 2000, in Braunschweiger Zeitung, 00-03-23

DWV, 00-03-30: The hydrogen van fleet in Hamburg is now in full operation (HyWeb, 99-01-19). Six Mercedes-Benz vans of well-known Hamburg companies are running in normal duty almost without emissions. Thus what the major car makers present only as concept cars can be seen in operation in Hamburg's everyday traffic.

A part of the fleet was presented during an event hosted by the Hamburg Hydrogen Society and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce on 27. March. Project participants reported about their experiences and further objectives. The symposium was chaired by Joachim Gretz, chairman of the Hamburg Hydrogen Society and honorary member of the recently founded European Hydrogen Association (EHA). Related projects were presented as well, among them those at Munich Airport and at BMW, the fuel cell heating station at Bahrenfeld and ideas of DASA about hydrogen in commercial aviation. Representatives of BMW and DaimlerChrysler engaged in a vivid discussion about the relative advantages of fuel cell and combustion engine.

Off the official event the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and the Hamburg Hydrogen Society negotiated with representatives of the city of Milan and the Italian environment agency ENEA. ENEA is an important member of the Italian Hydrogen Forum, an organization comparable to the German Hydrogen Association. There were discussions about the possibility to convert commercial utility vehicles in Milan to hydrogen, making use of the experiences gained in Hamburg.

DWV, 00-03-30: The bus demonstration project in Chicago has been finished successfully after two years. The project partners Ballard Power Systems, XCELLSIS Fuel Cell Engines Inc. and Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) announced this during a press conference on 23. March (HyWeb, 97-10-10). The vehicles were said to have performed well in the daily grind of revenue service, both in the heat of summer and the chill of winter. After 50.000 km with more than 100.000 passengers on board nothing was left behind but water vapor.

Driver and passenger reaction to the program and the buses was positive. Drivers reported a smooth, quiet ride, absence of fumes and good acceleration. They also said passengers included visitors to Chicago who had made a point of riding a fuel cell powered bus during their stay.

The benefit for the companies was to gather experience which made it possible to create a next generation of fuel cell drives that is simpler in design, easier to maintain, and half the weight of the engines used in the Chicago buses. The parallel project at Vancouver will be finished as well during this year. Between 2000 and 2003 25 to 30 buses will be tested in the framework of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. There are also ideas about a major demonstration project in various European cities, as it could be heard during the Hannover Fair. The first buses will probably be commercially available in 2002 for a bit less than 850 kEuro. This is more than for a Diesel bus, and Ballard chief financial officer Paul Lancaster expects that a gap will remain. He rather presumes that the competitors will leave the scene due to increasing environmental restrictions.

HyWeb, 00-03-30: DCH Technology of Valencia, California, USA, presented its Enable™ PFC (Personal/Portable Fuel Cell) at the Joint Presentation Hydrogen & Fuel Cells at this year’s Hanover Fair (Germany) on March 20 to 25.

The PEM Fuel cell appliance that runs on pure hydrogen has the following specifications as presented by DCH:

Enable PFC is currently being manufactured in pilot quantities for study by power-product, communications and control companies. DCH is also developing a larger fuel cell of 5 kW output.

DCH recently established a wholly owned subsidiary – the Enable TM Fuel Cell Corporation – in Middleton, Wisconsin to continue to develop and commercialize the technology.

DWV, 00-03-30: Last year a research team from Singapore reported the results of measurements on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) doped with lithium or potassium (HyWeb, 99-07-14). Hydrogen storage factors of 14 to 20 % per unit weight were observed at temperatures up to 400 °C. The university of Michigan tried to reproduce these values, but did not succeed before the hydrogen was polluted with water. It appears that the metal particles formed hydroxides with the water which was accountable for the observed weight increase. Measurements with very dry hydrogen yielded much more modest values around 2 %. (R. T. Yang, Carbon 38 (2000) 623-6)

HyWeb, 00-03-17: On February 24, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted a regulation that will further reduce air pollution from the state's transit buses, and require some fleet operators to start using zero-emission buses (ZEBs) in three years.

The regulation, which in 2002 starts its phase-in, affects about 8,500 buses at approximately 75 California transit agencies.

Large transit agencies with 200 or more buses that continue to purchase primarily diesel vehicles are required to begin demonstrating the use of at least three ZEBs by 2003. ZEBs powered by electricity or hydrogen fuel cells are already being used by some transit agencies.

Since federal, state and local governments heavily subsidize bus costs, it is possible to invest in purchases of new, cleaner buses without adversely affecting transit service, according to ARB.

ARB staff calculates that the new transit bus rules, combined with normal fleet turnover, will bring statewide reductions of seven-tons-per-day of NOx and 12 tons-per-year of PM by 2020.

HyWeb, 00-03-17: In line with the world-wide trend, Korean automakers are investing heavily in the development of fuel cells, reports the Korean Herald on February 7, 2000. Hyundai Motors and affiliated Kia Motors plan to spend around US-$ 9 million this year on fuel cell related research (HyWeb, 99-12-21), while Daewoo Motor is set to launch a joint R&D program with a state-run laboratory. Even though the budgets are low compared to the spendings of other carmakers, this is a significant increase in efforts in Korea.

Hyundai Motor recently formed a fuel cell task force at its R&D center in Yongin, south of Seoul. A company official announced that by 2003, Hyundai would make its final decision on whether it will mass produce fuel cells or purchase fuel cells from abroad.

Faced with the need to develop alternative energy sources, Korean oil-refinig companies such as SK Corp. and LG-Caltex Oil, are also pushing ahead with their own fuel cell research, according to the newspaper.

Unnoticed by most of the world, the fourth Korea-Italy joint symposium on fuel cells took place in Messina, Italy, in October 1999.

"Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option, they will become a necessity."

Mr. Fujio Cho, president ot Toyota Motor Corp., in a Reuters news note, Jan. 14, 2000

HyWeb, 00-03-16 (updated on 00-04-14): On the 8^th of May the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport and Technology organizes the "Day of the Fuel Cell".

In addition, the following hardware will be presented: Fuel cell bus by Neoplan/Proton Motor Fuel Cell, Nebus and Necar 4 of DaimlerChrysler, P 2000 of Ford, 750hL of BMW, Fuel cell Zafira of Opel, MCFC Hot-Module of MTU.

Additional presentations: Aral, ARGEMUC, Ballard Power Systems, Bayernwerk, EcoStar, ET GmbH, Fraunhofer ISE Freiburg, L-B-Systemtechnik, Linde, MAN, MTU, Proton Motor Fuel Cell Gmbh, Siemens, Studiengesellschaft Brennstoffzellen e.V., XCELLSiS.

The program includes speakers: Dr. Otto Wiesheu (Bavarian Economics Minister), Dr. John Holmes (Senior Advisor of the California Air Resources Board, to be confirmed), Firoz Rasul (Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Ballard Power Systems), Prof. Ulrich Wagner (coordinator Hydrogen Initiative Bavaria), Prof. Peter Martin (Alstom), Dr.-Ing. Klaus Hassmann (Siemens AG), Jörg Demmler (Rhön-Klinikum AG), Dr. Ferdinand Panik (DaimlerChrysler), Dr. Erhard Schubert (Adam Opel AG), Dr.-Ing. Franz Dübel (Ford AG), Detlef Frank (BMW), Dr. Götz Heidelberg (Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH), Dr.-Ing. Karl-Viktor Schaller (MAN-Nutzfahrzeuge AG). Participation of the conference program is restricted to invitation.

The Day of the Fuel Cell will take place on Monday, May 8 from 10 am to 6 pm in and around the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport and Technology, Prinzregentenstraße 28, in Munich, Germany.

Public transport: U4/U5 station "Lehel", Tramway 17 station "Nationalmuseum/Haus der Kunst", Bus 53 station "Nationalmuseum/Haus der Kunst".

HyWeb, 00-03-14: Funding of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies by the German federal ministry for education and research (BMBF) and, since January 1^st, 1999, the German federal ministry for economics and technology (BMWi) has been reduced continuously duribng the last several years. Hydrogen funding had its peak in 19991 and has been reduced by almost a factor of 20 since. Fuel cell funding had its peak in 1995 and has fallen by 30% until 1999. For this year, an increase of fuel cell funding by 2 million EURO to 8.5 million EURO (=US-$), which is equivalent to the 1995 value, has been announced (HyWeb, 99-12-21).

It is obvious that funding in the USA achieves significantly higher levels on an absolute basis and also on a per capita basis compared to Germany.

HyWeb, 00-03-07: On March 2, the California Fuel Cell Partnership announced automotive manufacturer Nissan as new partner and methanol producer and marketer Methanex as new associate partner (HyWeb, 00-02-16). The first demonstration vehicles will operate using hydrogen as the fuel. Subsequently, the partnership intends to demonstrate the feasibility of liquid fuels like methanol and gasoline for fuel cell vehicles.

DWV, 00-03-07: Texaxo Inc. has left the Global Climate Coalition (GCC). GCC is an industrial lobby which fights against the climate protection agreements of Kyoto and against related activities with a lot of good money and not quite so good arguments. Texaco said that it intended to speak for itself and through other organizations about this topic. Texaco is the first major US oil company to leave the anti-climate-protection phalanx of US industry. Ford and DaimlerChrysler had taken this step around the turn of the year, BP and Shell even earlier. Environment organizations reacted highly pleased on the new development. Pressure on remaining members (like Exxon, Chevron and General Motors) is expected to mount.

DWV, 00-03-07: Would you like to invest in fuel cells, but are not sure how to do it best? Let the professionals do the work for you. The Swiss bank UBS has put the shares of eight companies from the field in a basket. The corresponding certificate (WKN: 935 193) runs through March 2004 and is traded at the exchanges of Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart. 46 % of the basket content is made up of Ballard shares.

HyWeb, 00-03-01: Opel exhibits the fuel cell car for the first time to the general public at the Geneva Motor Show (March 2 to 12). After presenting its first experimental vehicle presented at the Geneva Auto Show in 1997 (HyWeb, 98-03-20) and the second fuel cell vehicle based on the Zafira at the Paris Motor Show in 1998 (HyWeb, 98-10-01), this is the first fuel cell vehicle with direct storage of hydrogen on-board the vehicle.

According to the Opel press release of February 29, the liquid hydrogen storage tank is a cylinder with a diameter of 400 mm and a useful storage volume of 75 l (equivalent to approximately 5 kg LH₂). The tank is stowed away safely in the interior of the vehicle under the second row of seats and the baggage compartment of the vehicle, which are 30 mm and 100 mm, respectively, higher than in the volume-produced Zafira.

At the presentation of the fuel cell Zafira in Geneva, Richard Wagoner, President and CEO of General Motors, underlined the cold start capabilities of the Zafira, as well as high power density of the fuel cell stack. The fuel cell stack used in this vehicle is the 7th generation of GM developed fuel cells. According to Mr. Wagoner, it is 15% better in volumetric power density than the nearest competitor's fuel cell. The cold start capabilities has been improved significantly over the values presented six months ago (HyWeb, 99-10-06). The full fuel cell power is achieved in just 30 seconds starting from -20°C; starting from -30°C, full power is achieved after 60 seconds.

The development of fuel cell technology fully suitable for everyday use is receiving additional impetus from strategic alliances with strong partners such as the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota and a number of mineral oil companies according to the press release. The most important joint objectives include setting up the necessary infrastructure, the reduction of costs, and the development of lighter and more compact storage technology for the fuel of the future. This is, according to GAPC Co-Director Dr. Erhard Schubert, "most definitely hydrogen, because a propulsion system using hydrogen fuel cells has optimum efficiency, emits nothing but water vapor, runs practically noise-free and offers at the same time a high degree of driving pleasure."

HyWeb, 00-02-28: Shell Hydrogen and Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) have mutually decided not to extend their Memorandum of Understanding announced in July 1999 to explore the establishment of a joint venture to further develop and commercialise ECD's proprietary metal hydride storage technology, according to a Shell press release of February 25.

Both parties deemed the exclusivity provisions of the MOU inconsistent with the wide range of hydrogen storage applications currently under consideration by oil and auto companies.

Shell Hydrogen continues to support hydrogen as the fuel of the future and supports the concept of solid hydrogen storage for transportation uses. ECD and Shell Hydrogen will continue to share information in the field of solid hydrogen storage, the press release continues.

Mr Raymond said he thought crude oil prices would not rise as high as $40 a barrel. He said current high oil prices "sure won't last long" given that finding and production costs continued to fall due to technological developments.

Mr. Lee Raymond, chairman of Exxon Mobil, in an interview with the Financial Times, Feb. 15, 2000

The Minister said oil prices had still not reached their "real value". "I think as an oil producing country Iran is not happy or satisfied with the sudden rise in oil prices. Oil producing countries should not allow this strategic commodity which serves as a vital source of revenue to come to the unnatural low level of prices we saw for many years."

Mr. Mohammad Shariat Madari, Trade Minister of Iran, on a news conference in Bangkok, Reuters, Feb. 15, 2000

"Rising oil prices are not having as serious an impact on the Japanese economy as they once did," Mr. Hayami said. He added that Japan's high current account surplus and access to alternative energy sources helped to offset the effects of higher oil prices. Rising oil prices, he added, could have a more serious impact on the US economy than on Japan's, since the United States have a record-high trade deficit.

Mr. Masaru Hayami, Bank of Japan Governor, in a regular press conference, Reuters, Feb. 15, 2000

HyWeb, 00-02-16: The Royal Dutch/Shell group has launched an internal system of emissions trading reports the German UmweltMagazin on Feb. 2. Single units within the Shell group can trade emissions on an internal website. The "currency" are emission packages of 100 t carbon dioxide or the equivalent of methane. The system called Shell Tradable Emission Permit System (STEPS) is an important measure to reach Shell's goal of reducing the group's climate gas emissions by 10% until 2002 compared to 1990 values. More information under www.shell.com/steps .

HyWeb, 00-02-16: On the 21^st meeting, which was held in October 1999, on the London accord of 1972 concerning the prevention of sea pollution, CO₂ sequestration has been discussed very reluctantly, reports "EU-Rundschreiben" by Deutscher Naturschutzring in its first edition of 2000. In case this measure, which is proposed by some as a climate protection measure, was to be regarded as injection of industrial waste, it would be unlawful according to present jurisdiction. Canada, Denmark and Germany were in favor of regarding CO₂ sequestration as waste disposal, while Japan, Norway, the USA, the UK and other countries were against.

HyWeb, 00-02-16: During an 18 month research co-operation, dbb Fuel Cell Engines GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG, and Shell Hydrogen, have successfully developed and tested a prototype gasoline reformer that might in the future be part of fuel cell propulsion systems for cars according to a press release by both companies.

The result of the research co-operation was a 50 kW multi-fuel system with compact design for mobile and stationary use of fuel cells.

The development of this power plant in 18 months was due to a combination of DaimlerChrysler and dbb’s expertise in designing fuel processors and complete fuel cell systems along with Shell's proprietary Catalytic Partial Oxidation (CPO) technology (HyWeb, 98-08-20). The main aim of the project was the development of a completely new compact and integrated gasoline reformer as the central part of the fuel processor.

During intensive testing at the Nabern/Germany dbb laboratories, the new reactor unit performed well under stationary and dynamic operating conditions according to the press release.

"We were very pleased with the speed with which we achieved results in this research project," said Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Panik, head of DaimlerChrysler’s fuel cell project. "This is a good example of the versatility of the new fuel cell technology. But, because of the expected high costs we will continue to work on a methanol reactor as our first priority, as this is the most advanced technology today. We will also keep an eye on the progress the CPO reactor is making."

With these results, the joint research project will officially come to end by February 28, 2000. Each party will now look for possibilities for commercialisation of this technology. Close co-operation in different projects preparing the market-entry of fuel cell vehicles, like the California Fuel Cell Partnership, and the "Iceland Project" will be actively continued, as both companies underlined.

Joining is the US Department of Energy (www.ott.doe.gov) who will work with the state government partners to provide insight into identifying and resolving potential technical and infrastructure barriers for fuel cell cars and buses. DOE will also help secure needed resources. DOE's office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will be involved in the Partnership.

The partnership has also added new associate partners, i.e. entities who bring specific expertise to aid in fuel, vehicle, and bus demonstration activities.

Additional associate partners are the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, which operates a fleet of 700 public transit buses in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the SunLine Transit Agency, which operates a fleet 50 alternative-fueled buses in the Palm Springs area of southern California (HyWeb, 99-12-21). These transit agencies were invited to serve as test sites for the first phase of the partnership's bus demonstration program. As part of that effort, next year each agency will acquire two fuel cell buses and include them in regular revenue service on scheduled routes. By 2003, the partnership plans to deploy up to 20 fuel cell buses.

HyWeb, 00-02-16: In the USA, a blueprint for hydrogen fuel infrastructure development has been developed. The 8 page paper is available under www.eren.doe.gov/hydrogen. Comments on the first draft of the paper are welcome; a form is provided on the web site.

The Blueprint for Hydrogen Fuel Infrastructure Development is based on a workshop held in October 1999. The workshop, co-sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission, posed the question: "What has to be done, beginning today, to implement a hydrogen fuel infrastructure so that when hydrogen vehicles become market-ready in 3-5 years, the infrastructure needed for on-board direct use of hydrogen will be available?"

The key finding of the workshop is encouraging, according to the blueprint: "There are no technical showstoppers to implementing a near-term hydrogen fuel infrastructure for direct hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. There are, of course, engineering development needs as well as codes and standards and other institutional issues to resolve, but fundamentally the technologies required are available."

"The recommendation for a collaborative effort between government and industry to develop a roadmap for a commercial-scale hydrogen fuel infrastructure is perhaps the key result of the workshop." The blueprint outlines a five-year action plan describing necessary activities. DOE has formed a core team of representatives from the organizations that particitpated in the workshop, which will be asked to endorse the blueprint and guide a collaborative government-industry effort to implement the tasks and schedule proposed. The first job of the core team will be to develop detailed work plans for each task in the action plan.

The blueprint and the action plan will be periodically revised, particularly if significant comments are received.

HyWeb, 00-02-16: Linde AG, Germany, will not acquire Messer Griesheim after all (HyWeb, 99-08-27). According to the large German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung of Feb. 10, Linde and the shareholders of Messer, the Aventis affiliate Hoechst (66.7% owner of Messer) and the Messer family (33.3%) have agreed upon terminating the acquisition talks.

Recently, the European Commission has permitted the merger of Linde with the Swedish gas company AGA. The Commission would probably not have permitted the acquisition of Messer by Linde, or only under conditions not acceptable to both parties, was given as the reason for not continuing the talks.

According to a Linde statement, the company will be the fourth largest industrial gas supplier world-wide after the merger with AGA. The company will have 18,000 staff.

HyWeb, 00-02-16: For the first time the Hanover Fair 2000 (HyWeb, 99-10-06) includes an Energy Summit on the subject of "Stopping nuclear energy - what do we start?". On March 22 and 23, 2000, 21 high ranking guests from politics, industry and research will discuss the subjects Energy policy, Energy industry, Implementation of Hydrogen in the Congress Center on the Hanover Fair grounds.

Location: Hanover, Fair grounds, Congress Center (TCM)
Date: March 22 and 23, 2000
Subjects: Energy policy, Energy industry, Implementation of Hydrogen

March 22, 2000, 10:00 h with international speakers like Dr. Amory B. Lovins, President, Rocky Mountain Institute, Snowmass, CO, USA, Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, Executive board memeber Deutschen Shell AG, Hamburg.

March 23, 2000, 10:00 h: On the way to a Hydrogen Economy - full steam ahead! Fuel Cells in everyday use. With

DWV, 00-02-16: While most people who hear about "DaimlerChrysler" and "Fuel Cell" associate this with cars running on PEM cells, MTU Friedrichshafen is also a member of the DaimlerChrysler group. This company develops a molten carbonate fuel cell for stationary applications jointly with FuelCell Energy as US partner. One sample of it started operation recently in the heating plant of the university of Bielefeld, Germany (HyWeb, 98-12-04). Another one will be installed soon in the in Tuscaloosa (Alabama) factory of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International. Within one year the project amounting to 2 M$ will be up and running. As far as the energy side is concerned, power giant Southern Company and the regional utility Alabama Power Company as well as the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority will participate. A duration of at least one year is intended.

DWV/HyWeb, 00-02-16: The US fuel cell manufacturer Plug Power has come to an agreement with the Dutch Gastec about a far-reaching cooperation in the field of fuel processing for fuel cells. Plug Power will acquire all of Gastec's intellectual property and assets in the field for systems up to 100 kW. 15 Gastec employees will work for Plug Power and establish a new operations base in The Netherlands. The deal amounting to 20 M$ comprises also an on-going strategic relationship to purchase future research and development from Gastec.

In addition, Plug Power announced the successful running of a PEM fuel cell for over 10,000 hours. Earlier this year, the company announced the completion of 52 complete fuel cell systems. Of these systems, 37 have been built to run on natural gas and 15 to run on simulated fuel. Some of the units will be running in Plug Power's test lab facilities. Others are being sent offsite for testing, according to a comany press release.

DWV, 00-02-04: The foundation of the European Hydrogen Association (EHA) was decided on 25. January in Brussels. It will mainly be a top association of the national hydrogen organizations in Europe which represents hydrogen technology and fuel cells towards the public, experts, and politics. Companies and individuals from other European and from non-European countries will also have the possibility to become a member. Under legal aspects the EHA will be a private association governed by Belgian law with its official seat in Brussels. The legal formalities for the recognition are not yet finished.

Founder members were the national hydrogen associations existing in Europe, namely in Norway, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and France. Others were a person from Switzerland, the Dutch Energy and Environment Agency (NOVEM) and Shell Hydrogen B.V. (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

The board consists of R. Ewald (DWV, chairman), J.-P. Godon (France, vice-chairman), G. P. Tartaglia (Italy, secretary), Ch. Morén (Sweden, treasurer) and five other experts from Norway, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

Joachim Gretz (DWV) was appointed as honorary member. He was thus distinguished for many years as member of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy) during which he worked in the hydrogen projects of the Commission, most notably in the EQHHPP (Euro-Québec Hydro-Hydrogen Pilot Project). Even though the latter did not proceed in the way it had been planned it gave many impulses to the whole field.

The EHA will do tasks on the European level which the national associations can not do at all or not so well. This means in particular the bundling of contacts to the European Union and to European countries not yet having a national association. The formation of such organizations will be promoted by EHA. Their foundation in Iceland and The Netherlands is expected within a few months.

The first attempt to create a European hydrogen association was in January 1996. The driving force then was the late Abraham Bahbout who as successor of Joachim Gretz coordinated the hydrogen projects of the Commission, especially EQHHPP. The homogenous and comprehensive structure chosen then met a lot of difficulties and opposition, however, while the federalistic constitution which exists now has been approved generally.

"TES is of fundamental importance for the future of fuel supply in road transportation. The German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing regards the Transport Energy Strategy as one of the most important initiatives of the present parliamentary term in the transport sector."

Reinhard Klimmt, German Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Housing, Press release by the ministry, January 19, 2000; Translation: LBST

HyWeb, 00-02-01: On January 19, the German Transport Energy Strategy (HyWeb, 98-05-13) presented its mid-term result in Berlin.

The Transport Energy Strategy (TES) is a joint initiative of the automotive companies BMW, DaimlerChrysler, MAN and VW, of the energy companies Aral, RWE and Shell as well as of the German Government, represented by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing.

It is the objective of TES to agree on one or at maximum two alternative fuels for passenger cars and duty vehicles according to technical, economic and ecological criteria. The fuel shall

Three of the possible fuels under investigation are still under consideration: natural gas (liquid), methanol, hydrogen (liquid). Detailed results have not been published. At the same time, the development of a joint strategy for the broad market introduction of one or two future fuels allowing for a complete country coverage as well as the development of accompanying political measures has been initiated.

DaimlerChrysler especially sees methanol and hydrogen as future fuels. Natural gas is less suitable for fuel cell vehicles and as a fossil fuel does not conform to the environmental goals of a sustainable economy according to the DaimlerChrysler press release. DaimlerChrysler will support the production of the future fuels from renewable energies to the largest extent possible. The company presses for drawing up a decision on the most suitable fuels until this summer.

VW declared that it makes no sense to build up special vehicle concepts and infrastructures in the short term. As long as it is not clear, if and in combination with which fuel the fuel cell can make its economic breakthrough to a commercial product, the strategic considerations within TES should take a specific kind of gasoline (Fuel Cell Gasoline according to VW nomenclature) and hydrogen into consideration on an equal basis.

HyWeb, 00-02-01: With the aim of making an elucidation of possiblities and challenges within the area of "hydrogen as an energy carrier", a national feasibility study is being performed in Norway. In the following, a short description of the activity from Norway is given:

It is expected that hydrogen will play an important part of the future energy systems. In order to meet the special technological requirements it is important that the level of competence should be increased and, if Norway shall keep its position as a leading energy nation in the future, that we identify and concentrate on possible shares in the market. This study is a collaboration project between persons from two private research institutes and two universities. The four institutes represent the major contributors to the research within the area of hydrogen as an energy carrier. The ongoing research comprises different aspects related to production, storage, transportation, distribution and final use of theh hydrogen energy.
In the final report, a short description of the level of competence both in Norway and other countries will be given. Further, some future scenarios with respect to energy systems will be drawn and how technological innovations and social changes will influence the future development. Finally some recommendations will be given with respect to research on three main issues:

Required material for the study will be collected from national and international contacts and network and also by arranging two workshops. The first workshop has taken place on January 20 to 21. National joint R&D projects of industry and research organisations are being defined as part of the present activity.

More information is available in Norwegian language under http://www.energy.sintef.no/Hydrogen/ (some of the workshop presentations are available in English language).

HyWeb, 00-02-01: DaimlerChrysler's fuel cell vehicle NECAR 4 (HyWeb, 99-03-17) is in operation on the apron of Munich Airport from 31 January to 19 February 2000 according to a company press release of January 26. This first industrial application of the NECAR 4 test vehicle is the outcome of a cooperative agreement between DaimlerChrysler AG and the airport operator Flughafen München GmbH, with support from the Bavarian State Ministry of Economics, Transport and Technology.

Munich Airport will use NECAR 4 as a transport vehicle in apron services and for the transfer of VIPs and pilots. These operations will provide DaimlerChrysler with invaluable practical experience with NECAR 4, for example regarding the vehicle's handling and reliability. The experience and impressions gained by its operators will also supply important feedback for the engineers in the development process.

In May 1999, the first public liquid hydrogen filling station was opened in the framework of a joint project of 13 companies funded by the Bavarian State Government (HyWeb, 99-05-05). It is the objective of the Hydrogen-Project at Munich Airport to test hydrogen technology under everyday conditions. Project partner BMW operates Clean Energy BMW vehicles of the 7 series since the opening of the filling station. In the meantime, the vehicle has run some 10,000 km carrying 500 VIPs in and around the airport according to a BMW press release of January 21.

	NECAR 4 will be fuelled at Munich Airport's Robotics Hydrogen Filling Station (Photo DaimlerChrysler)		The CleanEnergy liquid hydrogen BMW vehicle of the 7 series at the filling station at Munich Airport; in the background NECAR 4 (Photo BMW)
	NECAR 4 in front of the filling station (Photo DaimlerChrysler)

During the operation, NECAR 4 will be fuelled with liquid hydrogen at this station by a filling robot.

DWV, 00-02-01: What exactly happened to the dirigible "Hindenburg" at Lakehurst in 1937? Was the hydrogen used as lift gas responsible for the death of 36 people? And does this prove that hydrogen, though clean and renewable, is dangerous beyond measure?

Various reports in the recent past contradicted this commonly accepted wisdom. Many of them were based on the findings of the former NASA expert Addison Bain. Bain and a safety expert of the German Hydrogen Association (DWV) have now published a paper about the causes and background of the accident. In German it is the first comprehensive and authorized publication about this subject, but an English version has as well been prepared. It discusses also matters like for example why the designers did not use helium and since when the true reasons were known.

In a nutshell: The start of the fire hat nothing to do with the hydrogen, but rather with the special properties of the outer shroud of the airship, together with the weather conditions prevailing on the day of the landing at Lakehurst.

DWV, 00-02-01: Various serious cases of fuel cell fever have recently been observed by financial experts. A particularly spectacular case was the investment of Microsoft founder Bill Gates in the company Avista Labs where he now holds 5 %. Though this company does other things as well observers think that Gates' investment has to do with the fuel cell sector.

An expert said that fuel cells might well be the next major boom market after the internet and biotechnology. These activities are targeted to a very great market, energy being one of the greatest business fields in the world, he said. In any case the Avista shares jumped by 30 % during January. Plug Power could also gain 22 % even though the company did not issue any exciting press release. (Reuters, 21. January 2000)

On January 9, Ballard unveiled its next generation fuel cell stack, the Mark 900. The new stack is incorporated in the Ballard Mark 900 Series Fuel Cell Power Module, uses low-cost materials and is designed for manufacturing in automotive volumes. According to the Ballard news release, the Mark 900 is significantly more powerful and compact than any proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell publicly shown to date.

According to Bloomberg reports on January 9 and 10, Ballard has started building a manufacturing facility near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which will commence production in September. The US-$17 million factory will have about 100 workers. Information on the manufacturing capacity was not provided. Ballard will build a $350 million plant in two years to produce fuel cells for as many as 300,000 vehicles a year. The plant will be in North America.

On January 13, Ballard announced that its subsidiary Ballard Generation Systems signed an agreement with Tokyo Gas, Ebara Ballard and Ebara Corporation to develop a fuel processor for a one-kilowatt natural gas-fuelled fuel cell power generator targeted at the Japanese residential market. The co-generation unit will provide electric power as well as heat for space heating and hot water to Japanese homes and appartments. Ballard intends to demonstrate a prototype before introducing a commercial product.

On January 16, Ballard Power Systems and Coleman Powermate, Inc. a subsidiary of Sunbeam Corporation, jointly announced that they are collaborating on the development of portable and standby power products. As part of the collaboration, Ballard and Colemate Powermate will produce 50 prototype units for initial product testing.

HyWeb, 00-02-01: Scientists at Motorola Labs and Los Alamos National Laboratories have developed a new, miniature fuel cell that may power consumer electronic devices from mobil phones to portable cameras.

The energy density is ten times that of conventional rechargeable batteries, according to a Motorola press release of January 19. The new fuel cells, each measuring about one inch square and less than one-tenth of an inch in thickness, are powered by liquid methanol. The fuel cell uses a reservoir of methanol that looks much like ink cartridges for fountain pens. It is air breathing with a highly simplified and miniaturized design that eliminates the need for air pumps and heat exchangers.

DWV/HyWeb, 00-01-18: The German federal government has approved 1 Million Euro (or US-$) for a project for the investigation of the storage of hydrogen in carbon nanostructures. The objectives are the production of the materials, the investigation of the influence of various pre-treatment procedures and of the complex interactions between the material properties and the hydrogen storage capacity. The funding will be reserved for five research institutes. Apart from them a number of industrial partners take part in the project.

A press relase of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) of 12. January says that in spite of the high standard already achieved in Germany a reduction of nitrogen oxides, benzene and particulate matter of about 70 % will be necessary to reach the air quality targets set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Union before 2005. Alternative fuels would thus gain more importance.

According to the Ministry, hydrogen has the advantage over conventional fuels to essentially produce water "emissions" when consumed in a fuel cell, which delivers the necessary electricty to the electric motor of a car.

Easily recoverable oil resources will probably be exhausted in a few decades, according to the release. Subsequently, rising prices for gasoline and other fossil fuels are to be expected, increasing the importance of alternative fuels.

A fundamental and as to yet unresolved problem on the way to a hydrogen technology is the storage of the gas on-board the vehicle. According to the Ministry, existing hydrogen storage technologies do not achieve the requirements on driving range, weight and simplicity in handling. Layered carbon structures with dimensions in the order of nanometers have shown extraordinary storage capacities in laboratory settings.

Project participants said that the first part of the project would be to try to reproduce those results which are known and considered as reliable. (In the project, the reports from Rodriguez and Baker are not considered to be among these.) There is a theoretical study which says that a load factor of 14 % should be possible. About 10 % might be technically achievable under favourable circumstances. This would make it possible to build a tank which gives a car a range of 500 km and is yet only about 10 % larger than a conventional gasoline tank for the same range. Nothing could be said about the weight, because the project objective is to investigate the material only, not to design a tank.

HyWeb, 00-01-18: After Ford leaving the lobbying group "Global Climate Coalition (GCC)" in December (HyWeb, 99-12-19) DaimlerChrysler now also announced having left GCC. In the German news paper taz, the German DaimlerChrysler responsible for environmental affairs Mr. Werner Pollmann is cited as saying that GCC membership is not advantageous and that global climate change is a subject taken very seriously by DaimlerChrysler.

DaimlerChrysler inherited its membership from Chrysler; Daimler-Benz had not been member.

The Global Climate Coalition is a lobbying group acting strongly, especially in the USA, against the implementation of the climate protection goals fixed in the Kioto protocol. Remaining important members are the mineral oil companies Exxon, Chevron and Texaco, as well as General Motors as the only car manufacturer.

HyWeb, 00-01-18: On December 16, the California Fuel Cell Partnership (HyWeb, 99-10-06) announced to construct a headquarters office in Sacramento, capital of the State of California, USA, which will house fuel cell vehicles and a hydrogen filling station. An on-site camera will monitor daily progress at the site and will be available for viewing through the partnership's homepage.

Automotive partners DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen will occupy indoor garage "bays" designed to house vehicles for routine servicing, repairs, and diagnostic purposes. Also, a chassis dynamometer bay will be installed.

The energy partners Arco, Shell and Texaco will jointly fund a hydrogen fueling facility which will dispense liquid and compressed hydrogen fuel for the vehicles.

HyWeb, 00-01-18: On January 11, General Motors presented the new fuel cell vehicle "Precept" on the North American International Motor Show in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The vehicle achieves 108 miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent (2.2 l/100 km). The Precept has a drag coefficient of 0.163 and is optimized for low consumption in all aspects.

The hydrogen storage on-board the vehicle is a hydride storage allowing for a driving range of 500 miles (800 km). It is unclear, what kind of hydride storage this is; an AP news story talks of a gel-like chemical hydride that fills tanks below the rear seat. The Precept has a 85 kW electric motor and a 100 kW fue cell stack, composed of 400 cells operating at 260 to 340 Volts.

The vehicle shall be operable by the end of the year and have a performance of 9 seconds, zero to 60 mph (100 km/h), and reach a top speed of 120 mph (190 km/h).

Byron McCormick, together with Dr. Erhard Schubert co-executive director of GM's Global Alternative Propulsion Center, said that fuel cells would be ready for production by 2004, but that more work needed to be done to build fueling stations and other infrastructure. He underlined that GM was planning to produce fue cell vehicles in large series.

At the same time, GM announced to have stoped the production of its EV1 battery electric vehicle for lack of interest from customers.

DWV/HyWeb, 00-01-18: Delphi Automotive Systems and Global Thermoelectric Inc. announced on December 22nd that they have successfully tested an integrated solid oxide fuel cell system running on automotive gasoline. The system incorporates a new gasoline reformer designed and built by Delphi together with solid oxide fuel cell stack components from Global. The Delphi reformer changes gasoline into a stream of gases that is fed directly into the Global fuel cell stack.

Global Thermoelectric SOFC stack at operating temperature (Photo: Global Thermoelectric)

Though not explicitly mentioned in the company press release, it is not unlikely that the development is related to the cooperation of both companies with BMW (HyWeb, 99-05-20) which aims at the development of a system consisting of a gasoline reformer and a solid oxide fuel cell which can supply the electrical components of a car.

As reported by the Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter in September 1997, Global Thermoelectric at that time started a cooperation with Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), a German national research center, in order to commercialize FZJ's planar SOFC technology. Global had announced to have a 1-10 kW prototype within two years.

DWV, 00-01-18: Hydro-Quebec Capitech Inc., a Hydro-Quebec subsidiary created in 1998, has aquired a minority share of 6 M$ of the fuel cell maker H Power Corporation (Belleville, New Jersey, USA). Capitech's mother company HydroQuebec is owner and operator of the large hydroelectric power stations in Québec. The energy of the latter is to be marketed by means of hydrogen, among other ways. H Power in turn has a subsidiary H Power Canada in Québec.

DWV, 00-01-18: The French natural gas supplier Gaz de France will partner with the Californian company Hydrogen Burner Technology (HBT) in the commercial development of a stationary, on-site hydrogen generating system. This is intended to accelerate the development of an infrastructure and improve the acceptance by the consumers. User in this case will be SunLine Transit Agency, the regional traffic company for the Palm Springs area. Hydrogen buses and the related infrastructure will be tested and demonstrated in a field test.

In the series wHydrogen (why hydrogen) various aspects will be discussed in unregular intervals based on topical news.

HyWeb, 00-01-18: On December 26, 1999, storm "lothar" rushed across France, Switzerland, southern Germany, Austria, Belgium and northern Spain. "Lothar" was the strongest storm in middle Europe since weather measurements started. It caused destruction on buildings, forests, the electricity grid, and about 100 casualties. 1,150 high voltage masts and 25,000 masts of local distribution grids were destroyed.

In France, more than 3 million people were without electricty for some time, even one week after the storm more than 500,000 homes were without connection to the grid.

About three weeks after Lothar, the last clients were finally supplied with electricity again, many of them with small diesel generator sets.

Electricité de France (EdF), the state-owned electric utility, announced that repairing all the damage to make the grid as strong as it was before the storm will take three years. According to different sources, the damage is in the order of 5 to 17 billion French Francs (0.6 to 2.5 billion EURO or US-$). According to the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, the damage in the electric system is not covered by an insurance.

Especially in rural areas of the countries where the population density is low, decentralized technologies have been reestablished: wood, candles, small diesel generator sets. Those who are connected to the natural gas grid and still have gas cooking furnaces, are lucky.

Year 2000: The energy crisis is over!
mineral oil: you only have to bend down to pick it up (HyWeb, 99-12-21)	Firewood: you only have to bend down to pick it up
Electricity: you only have to bend down to pick it up	All the best !!!

In January 1998, electricity supply in the Canadian province of Québec collapsed. Ice rain had frozen on electric lines making them burst under the load, and on electric masts crumbling under the weight. More than 1,000 power transmission towers and 30,000 wooden utility poles were destroyed. Close to 1.4 million people in Québec and 230,000 in Ontario were without electricity at freezing temperatures. In many municipalities, power was not restored for at least a week. Even one month after the ice storm there were still 700,000 people without power. Approximately 100,000 people took refuge in shelters.

Economic losses for Montreal and Ottawa were estimated at CAN-$585 million and CAN-$114 million respectively. As of June 1998, some 600,000 insurance claims totalling more than CAN-$1 billion had been filed.

At the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems the concept of the 'Self-sufficient Solar House 2000' was developed over several years, built from Sept. 1991 to Oct. 1992 in Freiburg, Germany. It takes into account solar architecture principles, thermal collectors, transparent insulation, photovoltaics, battery storage, hydrogen storage and an electricity and hydrogen application system. In the first operation phase of several years, it provided all energy needs from solar radiation without any exchange or supply of energy from the outside.

The energy supply strategy of this concept supposes direct electricity use during sunshine. Excess energy is stored in a lead-acid battery system. As soon as this system is charged completely, hydrogen and oxygen are produced in a membrane pressure electrolysis unit at a level of 3 MPa and stored in gas cylinders. The hydrogen storage is a seasonal storage with a cycling period of one year. During wintertime the hydrogen is converted to electricity by a fuel cell system or to high temperature heat in a catalytic cooker with 4 diffusion burners and in a catalytic air-heater with a two step diffusion burner. The battery buffers electric peak-demand which cannot be covered by the fuel cell. The catalytic cooker replaces the electric one when the sun is not shining. The oven is operated electrically.

Photo: The self-sufficient solar house with the hydrogen storage in the foreground; photo: ISE

At present, fuel cell systems are actively developed for single and multiple homes. Different concepts are being persued:

These systems consume different types of fossil fuels, e.g. natural gas or diesel.

There are also further developments of "electricity storage systems" as described above for the self-sufficient solar house, comprising an electrolyser, a hydrogen storage and a fuel cell (HyWeb, 98-02-24).