Nuvera Fuel Cells

By Pete Colantonio, Lead Product Engineer
Nuvera Fuel Cells

(L to R) Pete Colantonio and James Cross

I attended a short course on Fuel Cell Fundamentals & Manufacturing Technology where various speakers from the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California Irvine, Toyota, Ballard and Plug Power presented on the subject matter.  The speakers did an excellent job of covering the operation, technical challenges and applications of all fuel cell types.  A presentation from Ballard on PEMFC durability was particularly exceptional as it covered a level of detail and disclosure absent in many of the other presentations.

The following day, plenary session speakers from the US, Japan and Europe stated the need for increased industry collaboration, recognizing that market competition limits it from being widespread beyond academia. So how does industry collaborate to advance fuel technology for the benefit of mankind, while maintaining competitive advantage and diversity, which arguably also promotes progress?  This is a challenge that certainly will test both government funding & policy, and the mission statements of companies to be profitable while serving their customers and the environment.

One of five plenary session speakers was Byron McCormick, the Executive Director of GM Powertrain Fuel Cell Activities, who gave a compelling and inspirational speech for continuing to put forth our best efforts to develop and promote fuel cell technology despite any obstructions from the near-term economic climate and slow adoption of fuel cell technology.  He was part of the EV1 project at GM and stated that battery technology does not compete with, but complements fuel cells considering their technical differences, infrastructure requirements, and lack of customer acceptance of reduced autonomy or convenience in the automotive market. This was determined by market research from his experience that concluded that while many commuters could utilize a battery-only electric vehicle, if they could not have the freedom to take those occasional extended range trips free of “range anxiety” due to the need to recharge, most customers would not buy a battery-only electric vehicle. Thus, fuel cells are the only feasible solution for non-fleet vehicles.  I’m sure this would upset ardent battery advocates who would be quick to mention quick charging and other enabling technology that continues to improve battery performance.

Well, that debate is clearly alive and well, as a question from the audience quasi-defended batteries when considering well-to-wheels efficiency vs. hydrogen generation from various sources to be used for fuel cells.  However, Mr. McCormick was quick to point out that comparison of technology must be holistic, where all technical and customer factors must be considered.  He also emphasized that engineering correctness often cannot overcome either consumer or political will, as people will only buy what they are willing to live with. 

Being a six-sigma black belt, his message of being mindful of your customer while developing technology certainly resonates, and I believe it is also a message that the fuel cell community as a whole must heed to if adoption of our technology is to be accelerated in the automotive and other markets as well.  Clearly, this theme impacts design solutions and how value propositions are presented to our customers for acceptance, as they cannot be solely based upon non-holistic engineering metrics as Mr. McCormick so eloquently stated in his address.

The cars are coming, where’s the hydrogen?
By Bill Mitchell, Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Nuvera Fuel Cells

Through 3 days of keynote addresses and meetings at the National Hydrogen Association meeting (including a ride and drive where we were allowed to put the Chevy Equinox fuel cell vehicle and BMW Hydrogen 7-series to the test on a small rally track), one of the overarching themes that started to emerge on the fuel cell vehicle front was: The cars are coming – where is the hydrogen?

On the first day, Paul Brubaker, Administrator of Research and Innovative Technology Administration for the U.S. Department of Transportation challenged all of us with a simple question: Why not?  That is, why not make the required investment in hydrogen and fuel cells to move our country away from fossil fuels.  In the 1950’s, President Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act that resulted in our interstate highway system.  In the 1960’s, President Kennedy enabled research to put a man on the moon with the Apollo program.  In the words of Mr. Brubaker, both of these programs were expensive at the time, but in retrospect, have forever changed our society for the better.  Investment in hydrogen and fuel cells will be viewed similarly in the future.

On the second day, Dr. Mary Nichols, the Chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board discussed a recent decision at CARB that will mandate fuel cell vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrids.  According to CARB, the mandate will ensure that in the 2012 to 2014 timeframe, that a total fleet of 7,500 fuel cell vehicles (5,357 if OEM’s can make the cars travel at least 300 miles on a tank of hydrogen) will be running around the streets.  This will be augmented by no less than 58,333 plug-in hybrids.  During her talk, she indicated that CARB is still studying how to “mandate” a hydrogen infrastructure to support the fuel cell vehicle rollout.

Fast-forward to today, and a few speeches stood out as a harbinger of things to come.  First, McKinley Addy of the California Energy Commission (CEC)  made a special announcement that the CEC has approved a budget of $120 Million per year for an 8 year period (total of $ 1 Billion) to help foster the commercialization and adoption of alternative fuels and clean energy technologies, including fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen refilling stations.

Second, Larry Burns, the Vice President of R&D and Strategic Planning at General Motors discussed GM’s perspective on hydrogen. Mr. Burns started by stating that the potential societal and consumer benefits of fuel cell technology are clear and compelling, and that no other technology offers this exciting potential.  In fact, he stated that GM has not uncovered a single issue yet to suggest that mass volume of fuel cell vehicles cannot ultimately be attained.  With that being the good news, Mr. Burns continued his talk by reaching out and challenging the energy providers stating that what is urgently needed is sufficient investment by energy providers to assure auto companies that the required hydrogen infrastructure will be in place when we deploy our next generation of fuel cell electric vehicles. In the view of GM, for the equivalent cost of 2 tanks of gasoline for every car in the U.S., we could deploy a hydrogen infrastructure that would put hydrogen refilling stations within 2 miles of 70% of our population. In closing his talk, he stated that together, we must act rather than debate, create the future rather than try to predict it, and solve the challenges we face now rather than handing these off to future generations.

As the meeting draws to a close, I feel enthusiastic about the future of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen.  I never did get to see Governor Schwarzenegger to deliver the fuel cells personally, but there is always next time.