We received some very impassioned comments back in May when the Obama Administrations cut hydrogen fuel cell funding for research and development. Several readers felt that a huge opportunity for a long-term eco-friendly vehicle solution had been missed.
Well, those same readers will be pleased to know that Senator Byron Dorgan (D) and the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, which he heads, has overturned the DOE’s initial slashing of the hydrogen fuel cell research budget.
The subcommittee has finished altering the DOE’s 2010 budget to now include $190 million for hydrogen research and development.
So tell us what you think? Waste of money or is hydrogen fuel research that might benefit the proliferation of hydrogen vehicles like the Honda FCX Clarity (pictured above) a good investment for the future?
The U.S. may have cut funding for hydrogen fuel cell research, but that doesn’t mean that hydrogen powered vehicles are done.
Norway recently finished building its first hydrogen highway. The HyNor project is a 580 stretch from east coast to west starting in Oslo and ending in Stavanger with 12 hydrogen filling stations along the way.
HyNor is apparently the world’s first integrated network of hydrogen pumps and is owned and operated by StatoilHydro. Plans have already been prepared that would see the hydrogen highway extended further into the rest of Scandinavia and, if all goes according to plan, all the way into Germany.
The Norwegian government recently imported the Mazda Hydrogen RX-8 RE (pictured above). Thirty of them actually to be specific. They will be available for lease in Norway this summer.
While the Obama Administration is definitely behind green initiatives and reducing vehicular carbon emissions, they have officially started cutting ties with hydrogen fuel-cell technology in favor of plug-in electric vehicles.
The DOE secretary Steven Chu stated yesterday that hydrogen vehicles are still 10 to 20 years from being practical and consequently the federal government will be dropping millions of dollars of hydrogen fuel cell funding from next year’s budget.
This announcement was in stark contrast to what Chu stated several weeks ago when he announced that $41.9 million for hydrogen projects.
Obviously the latest announcement has ruffled some feathers. The National Hydrogen Association immediately fired off a statement that decries the cuts as stifling to hydrogen fuel cell technology development, which they claim is showing “exceptional promise and beginning to gain market traction.”
A sentiment reflected in the fact that this year’s New York Auto Show named the hydrogen fuel cell powered Honda FCX Clarity (pictured above) was named the World Green Car of the Year.
What do you think? Is hydrogen technology worth investing in or is the Obama Administration right to just focus on electric cars?
It also seems the Department of Energy (DOE) has not forgotten about hydrogen powered vehicle either. In what they have described as an effort to lay “the foundation for a green energy eonomy,” the DOE is putting $41.9 million from the Stimulus Bill into hydrogen fuel cell technology. They predict this will lead to an immediate deployment of almost 1,000 new hydrogen fuel cell systems.
Bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi will make use of a $2.4 million grant allowing for the development of a 3-5kW solid oxide fuel cell auxiliary power unit for class 8 trucks.
While this should help hydrogen fuel cells see more action while creating new jobs hydrogen vehicle proponents might still be a little ticked off that at the relative difference of the $41.9 million for hydrogen compared to the more than $2 billion that is going towards advanced battery research for electric vehicles.
Every once in a while we’ll come across a link to some blog or, worse yet, business that is attempting to convince readers that they’ve got a magical device that runs on “water gas” or some such nonsense.
So it’s good to see that the Federal Trade Commission is laying a smack down on a purveyor of such a device they call the Hydro-Assist Fuel Cell.
Made by Dutchman Enterprises LLC and United Community Services of America Inc., the apparently magical Hydro-Assist Fuel Cell is said to increase fuel efficiency in cars by as much as 50 percent. Not bad for a $1,000 item, except that these hydrogen generators don’t improve mileage.
According to the FTC, not only does the Hydro-Assist Fuel Cell not work, it actually results in worse performance in vehicles.
The FTC is not only looking into the false claims of the Hydro-Assist Fuel Cell but of the name of the thing as well since it’s not actually a hydrogen fuel cell. What is it then? It’s a trap!
The guys over at Do It Yourself HHO have plenty of tips on how to augment your vehicle with hydrogen. This video shows an example of how to build your own Hybrid Hydrogen Oxygen (HHO) fuel cell. These sorts of fuel cells assist in combustion, improving your vehicles mileage performance. We thought you might enjoy seeing the fundamental principles of how hybrid hydrogen vehicles work.
