Numerous manufacturers including GM and Honda have put their cars through extensive crash tests to make sure no explosions will occur. This has once again been validated by GM in real world situations.

Since members of Project Driveway have been behind the wheel of Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell SUVs there have been five car crashes to date. The hydrogen fuel cell Equinox pictured is a total loss yet no one was hurt.

According to GM spokesman Alan Adler, “The vehicle was being driven in traffic at low speed when it was struck from behind by a full-size pickup which forced the fuel-cell vehicle forward into another pickup. No hydrogen was released and no one was injured.

“The vehicle was extensively damaged on both front and rear ends and later declared a total loss. A vehicle data analysis indicates that the vehicle and controls operated as designed. The vehicle was on a short-term loan to a military consultant.”

Unlike gasoline which will pool around the base of the vehicle as it burns, hydrogen fuel will rise quickly and burn upwards. Leave the dramatic explosions for the movies and for vehicles using gasoline. The cars, trucks, SUV, buses, trains, planes, boats, ships, submarines and other vehicles using hydrogen fuel will be far less dramatic during accidents.

People tend to fear what they don’t understand. Even though hydrogen needs to be handled with care, it’s not as dramatic to deal with as are other types of fuels. In fact, it can be quite underwhelming.

First, I would like to talk about eHydrogen Solutions which has come up with its H-Solaris generator using sunlight to cost effectively split water and create hydrogen on demand. eHydrogen is using a type of synthetic photosynthesis to achieve this hydrogen production.

The company sees a vast future for this type of hydrogen on demand especially for the residential fuel cell market. The H-Solaris generator or something similar may also be used for on demand generation at hydrogen fueling stations.

Now, on the biogas front, FuelCell Energy, Inc. and Air Products have teamed up to build a hydrogen fueling station at the Orange County Sanitation District in Fountain Valley, California.

According to FuelCell Energy, “The system will be fueled with biogas from wastewater treatment operations and produce 300 kilowatts of power and up to 300 pounds of hydrogen per day. This hydrogen could be used for early market fuel cell applications such as back up power and forklifts and is sufficient to fuel roughly 100 fuel cell cars. The electricity will be available for use by OCSD for its operations.”

This is unusual for two reasons. First, I haven’t talked about many articles using biogas as a feedstock compared to other methods of producing hydrogen fuel. Second, the fact that they will be producing enough H2 to refuel 100 cars is much more than most demonstration hydrogen fueling stations that can handle less than a dozen cars a day.

The good news is that researchers are attacking the hydrogen production issue on all fronts including using combinations of wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear coupled with biogas, farm waste, water, steam, natural gas, coal, or chemical reactions using aluminum compounds, magnesium compounds and other compounds such as sodium borohydride to create pure hydrogen.

By addressing the problem at all possible angles, the solution may just be one or two breakthroughs away.

The big announcement is that GM has come up with a next generation hydrogen fuel cell for FCVs that is supposed to be “production-intent”. This new fuel cell is 220 lbs lighter than the previous fuel cell and uses 1/3 less platinum.

So far in the Project Driveway program, GM has built 119 of the 200 promised Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles, logging over 1.3 million miles. One of the sticking points that GM has not addressed however, is the life expectancy of the new fuel cell.

The fuel cell used in current and previous versions of the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell had a life expectancy of around 50,000 miles, which is far short of the 150,000 to 200,000 mile life expectancy for which many hydrogen car producers are striving.

The projected 2015 price tag on the new generation production intent fuel cell has not been disclosed. But, it would be a safe bet to say that changing out this fuel cell is going to be more expensive than swapping out an internal combustion engine, or a lithium ion battery pack on a hybrid car.

So, what GM needs to do with its fuel cells within this next 5 years, is lower costs, use less or no platinum, extend the life expectance to at least 150,000 miles or above and continue to push for more H2 refueling infrastructure to be built by 2015 to support the production of its FCVs.

If the research and development achieved in the last 5 years is any indicator, then these goals are very do-able.

The RET system is expected to provide head to head competition with the most efficient electrolysis systems on the market today. According to the video the RET device uses components from both a simple microwave oven and proprietary Genesys components to show that the device can be manufactured in a cost effective manner.

According to Genesys, “The principle of the technology relies on the unique properties of the oxygen-hydrogen bond. By using electromagnetic radiation tuned to the OH bond energy it is possible to break the bond with a minimum amount of energy. The rate of hydrogen production using this technology far exceeds that of electrolytic processes. RET is a continuous process technology that also operates at room temperature. RET is modular and easily scaleable as well as carbon neutral. As a result of this revolutionary approach, RET modules may be added or subtracted very quickly to respond to changes in hydrogen demand.”

Since the Genesys RET technology relies on water (or steam) as a feedstock, there are a several renewable ways to go about using this system. The first method would be to use wind or solar to heat the water into steam and then break the bonds using the RET system.

Another method would be to use geothermal wells, abandoned oil wells, or the steam from online power plants as sources for the high temperature cracking of steam into hydrogen and oxygen. Landfills and waste treatment plants may also be used to provide the H2O feedstock for the Genesys RET system. The Genesys RET technology is a hydrogen on demand system. It is capable of provide hydrogen fuel near the customer of an H2 car, which I take to mean produced in a decentralized manner near the fueling station.

But, the device also looks as if it could be downsized and create hydrogen on demand at the fueling station itself, thereby side-stepping the need for a huge hydrogen distribution system to be built. If this RET hydrogen production method lives up to it’s billing this could be the disruptive technology that hydrogen car advocates have been waiting for that could provide rapid commercialization for H2 cars.

So, I thought I would outline a few of the most important and interesting of both of these areas.

Roadmaps

The National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap developed in 2002 outlines a vision for transitioning the U. S. to a hydrogen economy and H2-based transportation system.

The California Hydrogen Highway Blueprint is part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s directive in 2004 to the Golden State’s EPA to fast track the development of hydrogen fueling stations.

The Florida Accelerated Commercialization Strategy for Hydrogen Energy Technologies focused in particular the commercialization of H2 business in that state.

State’s Intiatives

I’ve talked in this blog at length about the hydrogen development going on in states like California, New York and Florida. But, there are smaller states that have their own hydrogen programs that need to be recognized as well.

The Connecticut Hydrogen Fuel Cell Coalition “is made up of companies and organizations that do business with each other and / or have common needs for talent, technology, and infrastructure.”

The Mountain States Hydrogen Business Council is a non-profit organization made up of government, business and academia leaders all interested in advancing the use of hydrogen energy in the mountain states region.

The South Carolina Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Alliance is a “public-private collaboration for cooperative and coordinated utilization of resources in the state used to advance the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.”

The Texas Hydrogen Coalition has an objective to use the abundant natural resources of Texas to advance the commercialization of the production, distribution and storage of hydrogen to reduce fossil fuel dependency and greenhouse gases.

These hydrogen roadmaps and state’s initiative I’ve selected are a few that I thought would be of interest simply because they don’t get much nationwide attention. There are many people quietly working in the background to make the national hydrogen highway system a reality starting one region at a time.

How this is proposed to work is that a 6 1/2 million sq ft. parafoil will be deployed upwards of one mile skywards towing a catamaran-like vessel. This ship will basically be dragged through the water by the huge kite.

Underneath the ship will be mounted a hydroelectric turbine that will turn as the vessel makes its way through the water. The turning of the turbine will create electricity, which in turn will be used to electrolyze seawater into hydrogen. The H2 will then be stored upon the vessel for later use (to run through a fuel cell on land to create electricity or as hydrogen fuel for cars).

In the past I’ve talked about high altitude wind energy hydrogen production from kites. I’ve also mentioned the WindHunter ship that uses wind turbines upon a vessel at sea to create hydrogen from seawater and store it on the boat.

This Korean Aerospace idea seems to combine both other ideas into one kite-ship-hydrogen generation package. This is one idea that is just so wacky it may just work. I think over the weekend, I’ll have to rent the movies “Kite Runner” and the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” and watch them at the same time.

In the past, I’ve talked many times about the merits of hydrogen peroxide or H2O2 as a potential future fuel for cars. It is already being used in race cars, race motorcycles, rocket ships, jetpacks and for some batteries.

Recently I’ve talked about the merits of water or H2O plus aluminum creating hydrogen for cars. In fact, many times over the past 4 years I’ve talked about this same subject. But, the last time I had talked about H2O2 plus aluminum creating hydrogen for vehicles was 2007.

Now, high purity hydrogen peroxide (90-percent plus) as opposed to low purity (10-percent) that you buy at the pharmacy, can be corrosive and unstable and must be handled with extreme care. In fact, some would argue that H2O2 is not safe enough to put directly into a vehicle other than a race car, rocket ship or jetpack. Tell that though to the Chinese who produced a prototype called the Habo No. 1 which did use hydrogen peroxide for fuel.

But, what if instead, hydrogen peroxide and aluminum (instead of silver or platinum) were used at the fueling pump to create hydrogen on demand for cars? Or at least it could be produced nearby and the resulting hydrogen could be piped or trucked only short distances.

In this regard, the people who handle the hydrogen peroxide would be the trained professionals who deliver it to the fueling stations or at the nearby off-site production locations. As in splitting H2O, the only byproduct of splitting H2O2 is a little steam and heat.

Anyway, I keep coming back to this point because I see potential in the idea but not a whole lot of development. Any hydrogen fuel producers want to take me up on this challenge?

The eco-friendly Taxi 2020 Concept was designed to be both green, (using hydrogen fuel cell, lithium ion batteries and electric motors), and passenger and driver friendly. This plug-in hybrid would not only run on hydrogen but could be plugged in and recharged using a traditional wall socket or at special recharging stations strategically placed around Melbourne.

As an additional bonus, the Taxi 2020 has a set of small solar panels mounted on the rooftop to recharge the vehicle using the sun’s energy. Granted this may be a bit of overkill because of the hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid capabilities already in place, but as a student design project, this gives additional options for recharging.

For the driver, the Melbourne Taxi 2020 Concept uses GPS, a SmartCard system, and night riding capabilities. For the passengers, there is an entertainment system, disability accommodations and a focus on curbside access.

For safety and fuel efficiency, the aluminum frame covered by a polycarbonate outer shell makes the vehicle lightweight, impact resistant and has high optical qualities for driver visibility. Of course, London will have their hydrogen fuel cell black taxis in place for the 2012 Olympics, which are working vehicles and not just design concepts.

But, the Melbourne Taxi 2020 lets enthusiasts, industry insiders, automotive engineers and others see the possibilities that hydrogen fuel cell cars will be playing within the next 10 years.

A new liquid hydrogen-powered UAV which is also a high altitude long endurance (HALE) aircraft called the Boeing Phantom Eye is getting ready to be demonstrated. According to Boeing Phantom Works president Darryl Davis, “The essence of Phantom Eye is its propulsion system. After five years of technology development, we are now deploying rapid prototyping to bring together an unmanned aerial vehicle [UAV] with a breakthrough liquid-hydrogen propulsion system that will be ready to fly early next year.”

The important aspects of the Boeing Phantom Eye include its 150 ft. wingspan, 450 lb. payload capability, 65,000 top altitudes and the ability to stay aloft for 4 days. This makes the Phantom Eye a military aircraft that will be useful for surveillance, intelligence, reconnaissance and communication.

But, wait, there’s more (as they say on those cheesy commercials on TV). Boeing is also working on a larger HALE called the Phantom Ray, which will be able to carry a 2,000 lb payload and stay in the air for 10 days. Both the Phantom Eye and Phantom Ray will be propelled by clean hydrogen fuel, fly higher than most typical UAVs and keep military personnel out of harm’s way, while recovering critical intelligence on the ground.

When one thinks of government agencies like NASA and the U. S. military, green energy rarely comes to mind. But, this is the direction both are moving towards and this lead by example philosophy is what we need more of in order to fully realize a hydrogen-based transportation system in the near future.

Now, the CEP will have the support of the Toyota as well. In 2004, the first CEP hydrogen fueling station went online in Messedamn, Berlin, Germany.

In September 2009, I had talked about the H2 Mobility plan for Germany and how 8 major companies signed a memorandum of understanding to expand the current 30 hydrogen fueling stations in Germany to the point of where serial production of hydrogen cars could start in 2015. The members of the H2 Mobility plan include Linde, Daimler, EnBW, NOW, OMV, Shell, Total and Vattenfall.

The CEP is currently in the 2nd phase of development which ends in 2010. Toyota is joining this phase which includes allocating 5 FCHV-adv fuel-cell hybrid vehicles to go along with 10 GM HydroGen 4 minivans and models from 5 other manufacturers to total 40 hydrogen-powered vehicles mostly in Hamburg and Berlin.

These vehicles will also accompany a fleet of H2 buses and 3 new hydrogen fueling stations to be constructed in the above named cities. The third phase of the CEP project will start in 2011 and conclude in 2016. This phase will be preparing and implementing the major commercialization of hydrogen cars and H2 fueling stations.

This commercialization will start in Germany, then expand outwards to the rest of the European Union Hydrogen Highway system and is concurrently expected to spread to Japan, the U. S. and other pro-hydrogen countries as well.