Rev Up Your Green Engines (Newsweek)

[eppur_se_muova]

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Tara Weingarten
Updated: 8:58 p.m. ET Dec. 8, 2006

Dec. 8, 2006 - Jon Spallino’s commute to work is unlike yours. Sure, he hops in his Honda, listens to NPR and sits in traffic for an hour. But his Honda spews hot water out its tailpipe instead of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide. Does your car do that? Spallino, who lives with his wife, Sandy, and two young daughters in Redondo Beach, Calif., gets to feel better about his commute because the automaker chose him as the first public test driver of its FCX hydrogen fuel-cell-powered car. For a year and a half now, the Spallinos have used the car as a daily driver to see how it functions in the real world. They’ve experienced just a single mishap: a flat tire.

You could argue that the Spallinos, who pay $500 per month for their FCX lease, are Honda’s dog-and-pony show, yanked around so the media can see that the company is committed to hydrogen technology. But Honda is indeed poised to begin a big rollout of a hydrogen-powered vehicle in 2008, which it’s been showing off at the L.A. Auto Show this last week. There’s no word yet on price, but the sedan comfortably seats four and drives as easily as any car on the road today. Plus, it looks so cool and futuristic.

So it begins, sooner rather than later, this onslaught of alternative-fuel cars. General Motors chose the Los Angeles show to reveal a new plug-in hybrid power system for its Saturn Vue SUV, claiming it will get 45 percent better fuel economy than the gasoline-powered Vue.

DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen are touting new diesel-powered sedans and wagons, which run cleaner than existing diesel cars and get 25 percent better mileage than their gasoline-powered equivalents. Nissan, Saturn, Toyota and Lexus all displayed new electric-gasoline hybrids. Within the next year or so, expect to see a growing number of alternative-fuel cars on the load: autos that run on a blend of ethanol and gasoline, hybrids that use diesel instead of gas, even cars powered by cooking oil from your pantry.

Honda’s FCX is just one of several hybrid hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered models being tested by carmakers. GM is in the advanced stages of developing a hydrogen version of its Chevy Equinox and will lease the first 100 next fall in a program called Project Driveway (beginning in a few months, GM will seek applicants on its Chevy.com Web site to sign up as test drivers). The company won’t reveal yet how much the leases will go for, but as with any new technology the price for this car is likely to be significantly higher than its gasoline-engine equivalent. GM’s Dave Barthmuss says the carmaker will decide how quickly to deliver the cars to showrooms based on how well the Project Driveway test goes, how quickly the national fueling infrastructure expands and how much manufacturing costs decrease.
***
more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16115734/site/newsweek/

[gristy]

1. hmmmm - does the article say where they are going to mine all this hydrogen?

:eyes:

[eleny]

3. yes, they talk about it on page 2 of the article

[gristy]

4. They sure do. I also see this brilliant statement

"It’s very important for all of us to get on the hydrogen path today and not worry about where the hydrogen comes from," he says.

[Strelnikov_]

6. Hell, Lets Get To Work On The Starship Enterprise. We'll Worry About Where The Dilithium Crystals

come from later.


Studies indicate battery electric is twice as efficient an energy carrier when compared to hydrogen.

Battery electric is a mature technology, proven affordable, with demonstrated improvement in range possible following engineering refinement of recent battery advances. Fuel cells are unproven as a consumer product, with new research breakthroughs required to make them affordable.

Electricity is, well, everywhere. Hydrogen will require construction of a completely new distribution infrastructure.


So, the answer is clear. Hydrogen. After all, Big Oil has to have something to do once the oil runs out.

[rurallib]

2. Mentioned about every kind of alternative but electric

As noted by the comment above refueling issues are big. Yet we have electricity everywhere.

[Porcupine]

5. Shhh!! Electric cars would be cheap and durable.......

You could plug them in anywhere for at least a partial charge with off the shelf engines and technology. They would require the least amount of infrastructure changes of all

Also any decent backyard mechanic could build a genset/trailer for extended trips that could also increase cargo space. U-hual could rent them for $20/day. Imagine if all the vehicles in Yosemite Valley were electric; less noise and less stink for everyone.

I'm sorry, making sense again; I'll try to stop.

[Kolesar]

9. Rent a gasoline car if you need to go on a long trip.

I think we will see a time when the only driving is commuting and shopping. There goes the tourist industry.

[Kolesar]

7. delete. error.

[Kolesar]

8. It is disgusting how uninformed the media "technical writers" are

The hydrogen fuel cell cars are nowhere near productization. Bet that half the prototype fleet dies within a year. Bet they won't operate at cold temperatures, either.

More correctly, Toyota launched the Prius IN JAPAN to solve an air pollution problem:

You need only look at the success of Toyota’s Prius to see that, when it comes to green automotive technology, as California goes so goes the nation. Toyota first launched its gas-electric hybrid in California six years ago to much success and has now sold about 326,000 cars across the country.