The Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership (SHHP) along with the European Lighthouse Project (LHP), has created H2moves Scandinavia (part of H2moves Europe) which will be rolling out 10 Daimler Mercedes-Benz B-class F-CELL cars plus two Fiat Alfa Romeo MiTo fuel cell vehicles (a first for this company).

The vehicles will serve as shuttles and demonstration cars around the Oslo, Norway region. Oslo will also be having a hydrogen fueling station built by 2011, which will use renewable energy, namely hydropower and the electrolysis of water to create H2.

In addition, H2 Logic will add five hydrogen fuel cell city cars to the mix in Oslo. The FCV city cars will have a range of around 155 miles. H2 Logic will also create a mobile hydrogen refuelling concept with the goal of identifying certification gaps that remain in Scandinavia that need to be addressed before a more robust hydrogen highway system can be built.

In the past I’ve talked about the Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway and the Norway Hynor Project which starts in Oslo and runs to Stavanger with five hydrogen fueling station stops in-between. The development of Oslo as a focal point for a hydrogen vehicle and fueling station cluster will serve the EU as a beacon of H2 development much the same was Los Angeles is serving in the U. S.

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The University of South Carolina Hydrogen Hybrid Bus is leaving the moderate temperature of the South and heading towards the much less forgiving temperatures of Vancouver, Canada in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Back in November 2009, I had talked about how hydrogen buses commissioned in Canada were starting to arrive for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The buses will be traveling upon the British Columbia Hydrogen Highway that includes Whistler, Victoria, Vancouver and 4 other cities.

The University of South Carolina 38-foot, 37 passenger bus is on loan to the Canadian government for transportation of passengers and athletes. The hydrogen fuel cell hybrid bus needs some slight modifications before hitting the colder Canadian climates, however.

Both fuel cells and passengers will need supplemental heat in the bus so the vehicle must be retrofitted to achieve this. The hybrid bus is also fitted with a bank of fast-charge, lithium titnate batteries to provide more power when needed.

The Hydrogen Hybrid Bus uses a carbon fiber/fiberglass composite body in order to reduce weight. The one downside of this road trip is that because there are few hydrogen fueling stations between Columbia, South Carolina and British Columbia the bus will have to be hauled by trailer to and from this event.

This is yet another call for more hydrogen fueling stations to be built in the U. S. as a simple bus trip becomes a major undertaking without adequate fueling infrastructure to support long distance travel.

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I’ve talked before about researchers at the University of Rochester in New York using artificial photosynthesis to create hydrogen. Now, researchers in China at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University are taking a slightly different tactic to produce hydrogen by developing artificial leaves.

For several years now other scientists have been using sunlight through solar panels to generate electricity, split water via electrolysis and create hydrogen. But, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University researchers have decided to go nano scale and try to mimic the structure of a plant leaf, which in nature is very adept at using sunlight to split water into hydrogen.

According to New Scientist, “Then they dried the leaves and heated them to 500 °C to burn away most of the remaining plant material. This left a crystallised titanium dioxide framework plus many of the leaves’ natural structures. Titanium dioxide is commonly used in solar cells to enhance their efficiency, and in the leaf it catalyses the splitting of water molecules.

“The leaf retained features such as the lens-like cells at its surface, which catch light coming from any angle, and veins that help guide light deeper into the leaf. The replicas also captured very fine detail, including structures called thykaloids, which increase the surface area available for photosynthesis and are just 10 nanometres thick.”

The scientists found that leaves are twice as efficient as titanium dioxide that one can buy commercially at splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. By mimicking this structure in leaves and materials, the researchers believe they can also create a very efficient method of producing hydrogen.

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Now, how often have you seen a classified ad that says, “Hydrogen Powered Truck for Sale”? My guess would be never. But, that is exactly what this is.

Over the weekend, I received an email from Dan Greenberg  and he says he is selling a hydrogen powered truck.

Dan Greenberg, according to his Linkedin profile, is the former Director of Engineering and Product Development for a company called Hydrogen Power Incorporated. Dan says he was able to get his hands on this prototype vehicle when the company went under.

Under Greenberg, one of the techs used aluminum and water to generate H2 as I have outlined on my hydrogen on demand page. But, according to Mr. Greenberg, the hydrogen powered truck for sale has all the trimmings to run gasoline, compressed natural gas (CNG), compressed hydrogen (H2) or a blend of H2 and CNG (hythane) so the buyer will have many options. He currently runs the vehicle on CNG since there are no hydrogen fueling stations in his area of the country.

Here is some more info about the hydrogen powered truck for sale supplied by Mr. Greenberg:

• Hydrogen Power 2006 Ford Ranger XL Extra Cab w/ 24,000 miles
• It comes with a laptop and the software to program the ECO-Fuel bypass ECU that is installed.
• A second set of gaseous fuel injectors is switched on and the stock gasoline injectors are switched of seamlessly “on the fly”
• The vehicle has a timing retard module that can be switched on for driving on H2
• You can program new fuel maps to optimize the fuel of choice.
• Vehicle comes with more than $15,000 of professionally installed hardware.
• 16 valve I-4 Duratech ford 2.3L engine (lots of sport extras available from Cosworth)
• Two SCI 3600 psi tanks installed for 250 miles range on CNG or 90-100 miles on H2
• Using a blend of CNG and H2 almost 300 miles is attainable

Since space is limited on this blog, here are even more details about this hydrogen truck for sale. Mr. Greenberg lives in the Seattle area and is asking $15,000 for this converted alternative fuel truck. For more info Dan Greenberg’s phone number is 206-854-9142. And, be sure to tell him where you first heard about his hydrogen powered truck for sale.

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This week I was able to chat with Louis Ventre, Jr. who is the Executive VP and General Counsel for HCE, LLC. HCE has just filed a U. S. patent application for hydrogen nano bubble storage methods based upon the work of the late inventor Udo von Wimmersperg.

The theory behind the patent is that hydrogen bubbles at a nano scale can be dispersed and stored in water. This water in turn can be stored in a container at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperatures. These hydrogen nano bubbles then can be released for use in hydrogen internal combustion engines and fuel cells. So essentially these nano scale water bubbles are filled with hydrogen at very high pressures, up to 43,500 pounds per square inch before being released. This “juiced” water, however, does not have to be stored any differently than a combustible liquid such as gasoline.

According to the HCE, “The method used to release gas from the aqueous dispersion depends on the application. In the case of an internal combustion engine one might choose to inject the dispersion into the inlet manifold and carry the water through the combustion and expansion process. Alternatively, the gas can be separated by weakening the surface tension of the water through raising the temperature of the dispersion. This can be done, for example, by utilizing waste heat. Another method to release hydrogen would be to introduce an additive that lowers surface tension. The rate at which gas separation from liquid can be effected is related to prevention of foaming. In the case of fuel cells, it may be advantageous to introduce the gas in dispersion.”

Once again, according to the company, “The invention of a new liquid fuel consisting of a dispersion of hydrogen nanobubbles in water solves this problem. The hydrogen nanobubble dispersion (HND) can be carried in a normal fuel tank and can be used as a direct replacement of gasoline in conventional engines. The vehicle range per gallon of HND is the same as that for gasoline. In addition there is a saving in weight by a factor two because of the lower density of HND; this aspect is of particular benefit in the case of aircraft fuel.”

Many people will turn up their noses when one mentions running a car on water. There is no evidence that a car has run on water alone to date. But, this juiced water along with leading edge hydrogen nano bubble storage technology may just allow us to rethink the possibilities of how future hydrogen cars will be fueled and what it will take to get us to this point. Many thanks to Louis Ventre, Jr. for his insights and information about this new “outside-the-box” technology.

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Okay, so the headline is a mouthful. That repetitive “T” may not roll well off one’s tongue. But, the fact is that I’ve been talking about the Vision Industries Tyrano fuel cell plug-in hybrid truck since May 2009.

The original idea was to test and rollout the truck in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California in order to help cut down on smog in those locations. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger even gave the Tyrano his blessing and FedEx has started testing this same vehicle as well.

Now, Visions Industries has expanded the scope of its hydrogen truck offerings. Teaming up with Capacity of Texas, Incorporated, Vision Industries is producing the world’s first ZETT (zero emissions terminal tractor).

The ZETT will not be a recreation of the wheel, however, as Vision will not have to build this tractor from the ground up. Instead they will be using the Capacity of Texas PHETT (plug-in hybrid electric terminal tractor – the world’s first) as the jumping off point.

The Vision ZETT will be able to work two 8-hour shifts before refueling and when it does come time to refuel, this will take only 15 minutes. This is a huge advantage over any battery only terminal trucks.

With tougher U. S. emissions standards for trucks expected to be implemented by the government this year, Visions Industries is at the leading edge of helping specific industries comply with these anticipated standards.

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The Italians and European Union are preparing a light 2-seat airplane for takeoff powered by hydrogen fuel cell and lithium ion batteries. I’ve talked about manned hydrogen fuel cell airplanes before, with and without the aid of lithium ion batteries.

The Rapid 200-FC hydrogen fuel cell manned airplane has an electric 40 kW propeller and a 20 kW hydrogen fuel cell, made by British company Intelligent Energy. The fuel cell airplane also contains a 20 kW lithium polymer battery pack to add more power for takeoffs.

The hybrid fuel cell airplane has a couple of advantages over a conventional small plane. First, the hydrogen plane is a zero emissions vehicle that emits only water and heat as byproducts. Second, the FCV airplane is very quite.

Because of noise abatement issues, some airports limit the amount and size of airplanes that can takeoff and land especially at night. Near where I live all airplanes are barred from taking off after 9 pm. This kind of quite small plane would fit into the low noise mandate on airports such as this and expand the flying time for pilots and their companies.

This Rapid 200-FC is part of the European Community “ENFICA-FC” project (Environmentally Friendly Inter City Aircraft powered by Fuel Cells). The aircraft has just completed its first high speed taxiing test. The aircraft has been built, however, to attain a maximum speed of 110 mph.

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Toyota has announced that by 2013 it will have 100 fuel cell vehicles on the road for demonstration and testing. This is two years ahead of the previously announced large scale rollout of commercial production hydrogen cars in 2015.

Up to this point, Honda, General Motors, BMW and Daimler are the automakers who have had large numbers of hydrogen cars on the road for demonstration and testing. BMW has already announced they are scaling back efforts on their hydrogen vehicles.

Some have criticized Toyota (the world’s leading car producer) of being behind the other automakers in development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Since Toyota has pioneered hybrid technology and presumably now plug-in hybrid technology it has made many wonder why the Japanese automaker has only been dipping its toe into hydrogen, so to speak.

But, while Toyota has not been a leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology they have not exactly been lollygagging either. Since 2002, they have kept improving their Toyota FCHV SUV’s and now have a fleet of 20 such vehicles in real world testing.

In fact, in August 2009, Toyota ran a couple of tests with their newest FCHV Adv and found the vehicle to have a range between 431 miles and 516 miles plus 68.1 mpg depending upon driving conditions. So, what Toyota has done, they have done well.

Now, Toyota has decided to scale up their efforts introducing 100 FCHV Adv SUV’s over the coming months in places that already have hydrogen fueling station clusters (California and New York) plus locations that will be building H2 fueling stations in the near future.

One reason is that like the other automakers, Toyota wants to put pressure on business and government to rollout more stations to refuel their vehicles. Another reason is that Toyota sees hydrogen as the future and wants to be right there in the thick of competition when FCV’s start to catch on quickly.

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A few weeks ago I talked about how a company called Hydrogenics was double dipping by building both hydrogen fuel cells for cars and hydrogen fueling stations (using electrolyzers). It seems that this company has their hands inside anything to do with hydrogen.

A week ago Hydrogenics announced that it was teaming up with Rosetti Marino to build a utility scale hydrogen power plant. Hydrogenics would once again supply both electrolyzers and fuel cells system for the project.

On Friday January 8, 2010, Hydrogenics announced that it has teamed up with the Canadian Space Agency to supply both electrolyzer and fuel cell for a Moon mission. According to the press release, “Hydrogenics Corporation, a leading developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products, today announced the award of a contract for the development of a next generation power system to be used for surface mobility applications on the moon. The scope of the contract includes an electrolyzer that produces both hydrogen and oxygen using solar power and a fuel cell system to be used for mobility, auxiliary, and life support systems.”

Now, NASA is known for carrying fuel cells aboard the Apollo spacecraft when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon in 1969. At that time fuel cells were used for auxiliary power.

What caught my attention about this press release from Hydrogenics however is that hydrogen is not only to be used for auxiliary power or even life support systems (oxygen and drinking water) but for “surface mobility” as well. Could this tie into the fact that NASA found significant water on the Moon in November 2009? And if so, will this water be used to help provide power for this spacecraft?

These are questions that haven’t been answered yet, but are quite intriguing. I’m sure more information will follow on what this new spacecraft will look like and precisely how it is powered.

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I’ve talked several times in the past about hyrail (or the Hydrogen Hi-Speed Rail Super Highway “H2RSH” as some are now calling it) by Interstate Traveler. In my past conversations with hyrail’s creator Justin Sutton, he indicated that the first hydrogen high-speed rail system may actually begin somewhere in Indonesia, where the need and political acceptance is the most accommodating right now.

And sure, enough, in three days from now, Bandung Institute of Technology transportation experts will start a 3-month feasibility study concerning the Interstate Traveler H2RSH project. If the feasibility study passes both technically and financially, the $3 billion hyrail project will begin building as early as 2012.

The Hydrogen Hi-Speed Rail Super Highway will cover approximately 221 miles from Cirebon, West Java, to Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Banten. The cutting edge hydrogen transportation project has even made the news inside Indonesia as can be seen on this Youtube video (this isn’t a “clean” video as there is other news on this clip as well).

According to the Jakarta Post, up to 15 firms now may be financially backing this project, “The 15 firms which could become involved include Aon Risk Service Inc, Aqua-PhyD Inc, Aruna Solutions, Asian Energy Limited, Tricap Group, Copernicus International, eCompass Group, Fidelity National Financial, Global Green Management, McGladry & Pullen, Modular Integrated Technologies, Obermeyer Planen+Beraten, Pembinaan Aktif Gemilang, The Interstate Traveller Company, and Tum Geotechnical Research.”

If the feasibility study passes, this will not only encourage the building of hyrail in West Java, but may encourage business and government in Michigan and Florida to do the same, since both of these states have already expressed a keen interest in this project.

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