Hydrogen cars set; refueling the issue

GM’s researcher says energy industry is major holdup to creating needed infrastructure.

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

SACRAMENTO — General Motors Corp. has the cash and the technology to put thousands of hydrogen-powered SUVs on the road within a few years.

But the automaker’s top researcher — and its biggest hydrogen booster — says the vehicles won’t get built if the energy industry fails to ensure owners can find a place to refuel.

GM research and development chief Larry Burns is on a mission, one he likens to a political campaign, to get in place the beginnings of an infrastructure of fueling stations.

"Unless the auto companies see willingness by the government and the energy companies, why would we build these vehicles?" Burns said in an interview before speaking to the National Hydrogen Association in Wednesday. "You mean to tell me three or four energy companies couldn’t put up 40 stations around Los Angeles? I think these companies have a little bit of money."

Of all the green technologies, hydrogen holds the greatest potential because vehicles can be extremely clean if they are powered by hydrogen derived from a nonpolluting source, such as solar energy.

But auto experts estimate it will take years and billions of dollars to establish a hydrogen fueling infrastructure. And, without economies of scale, automakers are getting the vehicles on the road only by heavily subsidizing loans and leases of fuel cell vehicles.

Burns believes the next logical step in delivering hydrogen vehicles to the masses is to focus on getting a network of fueling stations in place for major metro areas, starting with Los Angeles.

A network of 12,000 hydrogen stations in the United States would put 70 percent of the U.S. population within two miles of a fueling station, Burns said. If the stations cost $2 million each (estimates for the cost of a station range from $1 million to $4 million) the network would cost about $24 billion.

He plans to spend 2008 lobbying hard to get investment from energy companies and support from local, state and federal governments in clearing the way to build more stations.

In speaking at the hydrogen convention, Burns made his pitch to a friendly audience: The crowd included hundreds of entrepreneurs and hydrogen advocates.

But Burns also isn’t shying away from confrontation.

He spent hours in a meeting Tuesday evening with officials from Shell Hydrogen, GM’s hydrogen partner. Then, while speaking on a panel that included Shell Hydrogen Vice President Duncan Macleod, he accused the nation’s major oil companies of falling short on a promise made three years ago to have stations ready for a round of hydrogen vehicles that hit the roads this year.

"I told my boss the stations would be there, and we built these vehicles believing the stations would be there," he told the crowd during a question and answer period following his presentation. "And then we found ourselves having to put them up ourselves."

Shell’s Macleod said the company is doing its best to get a hydrogen infrastructure going, but that the process is more complicated than just coming up with the cash. Real estate, especially in places like Los Angeles, is hard to come by in convenient locations.

"Building fueling stations on major roadways with public access — it’s not so easy," he said

Until now, Burns said, energy companies could argue that a hydrogen investment isn’t worthwhile because the cars weren’t there. But he believes GM and other automakers have done their part in proving vehicles powered by a combination of hydrogen gas and electric batteries are a real alternative.

GM and other major automakers will be required by the California Air Resources Board to expand zero-emissions vehicle fleets within the next five years if they want to sell cars and trucks in the state. But, Burns said, GM won’t likely build beyond the minimum required if the infrastructure isn’t there.

Most major automakers have fuel cells on the road in some form.

Honda has its hydrogen fuel-cell powered FCX Clarity. The automaker is offering a three-year lease program for $600 a month beginning this summer. BMW’s Hydrogen 7 pairs fuel-cell technology with an internal combustion engine. And Ford Motor Co. modified its Ford Focus to run on hydrogen.

GM has an initiative under way, called Project Driveway, that doles out 100 hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Equinox to businesses, public figures and regular consumers in L.A., Washington, D.C., and New York.

Burns said early feedback from Equinox drivers proves the vehicles are practical and usable, if not affordable, for everyday drivers. Hydrogen is pumped into the Equinox as a compressed gas.

"The only way you’re going to get to the thousands of vehicles is if you can convince the customer there will be a way to refuel," Burns said. "A hydrogen infrastructure is economically viable — it’s a very market-driven alternative."

Hydrogen fuel cells are a practical alternative to the internal combustion engine, but the barriers remain formidable, said Joseph Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting in Short Hills, N.J.

"We’ve been talking about fuel cells for 15 years now and they’re always another 10 years out," he said. "True practical affordable fuel cells are easily a generation off.

"But somebody’s got to get the ball rolling."