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26th May 2014
The dream of a future with hydrogen powered transportation is finally turning into reality, as companies like Hyundai launch vehicles using a technology that delivers its main emission as water vapor.
California is leading the way to provide fertile ground for hydrogen vehicles, but the long term viability of hydrogen remains in doubt: there's a need for technological advancements and critical infrastructure that goes far beyond just the vehicle, suppliers, and service points.
A total of 28 stations are expected to open over the next year in California, with the bulk of them managed by Newport Beach startup FirstElement Fuel Inc. The CEO of FirstElement is Joel Ewanick, a former Hyundai and General Motors marketing executive, who also landed help from Toyota with a further $7.2 million in funding support. Plans are to see at least 100 stations in California over the next several years, but it won't be enough to support wide-spread adoption of hydrogen cars.
Why the flurry of activity now? New California EPA zero emission standards hit California in 2015, requiring more than just EV sales in the state.
General Motors and Daimler are also said to be working on hydrogen technologies, but have released no concrete plans on when hydrogen vehicles will hit the market. In fact, like EV in the 1990's, most major car manufacturers publicly down-play the future of hydrogen vehicles, talking about the high energy usage to produce hydrogen as a fuel, and the complications implicit in its storage, delivery and use - not to mention the new infrastructure it requires.
So even with the development of basic infrastructure like filling stations and the arrival of production volumes from major manufacturers, hydrogen has many detractors. It is notoriously difficult to store and manage, and the methods available for producing hydrogen for filling stations either involve large amounts of water or methane, with significant energy to get the hydrogen into usable formats. In its current state, hydrogen is just not that green.
The introduction of commercially viable hydrogen vehicles to the driving public is in part due to California legislation mandating zero emission vehicles in the market by 2015. This has spurred major automakers to tackle EV programmes and hydrogen technologies with serious resources. In the end, it is pushing the infrastructure for hydrogen forward. Hydrogen has the potential to be a truly revolutionary power delivery mechanism for vehicles, but it has a long way to go before it beats electric in its total carbon footprint.
It's easy for the world to say hydrogen will never work, especially given the uphill battle it faces, but California should be applauded for its efforts to kickstart the infrastructure that gets the world on the way to new solutions for zero-emission transportation. It should be a goal to get to sustainable mobility energy sources that are abundantly available, and California is the only place taking active steps to pull the automotive industry out of its myopic addition to internal combustion.
It may take awhile and need a lot more innovation to be truly viable, but hydrogen remains the best 'future energy source' out there. Its just too bad 'the future' is showing little sign of arriving anytime in the near future, even with California's efforts.
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