Green Options

At the tail-end of last week’s Tokyo Motor Show Suzuki unveiled an exciting e-scooter concept, the Burgman, powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cells and a li-ion battery.

Suzuki says that the innovative powertrain would enable the Burgman to reach distances of up to 220 miles at an average speed of 30kph (20mph) - so no wild freeway jaunts just yet then.

However, the company also reckon that performance will be comparable to a standard 125cc scooter (but I’d imagine that riding at higher speeds would most likely significantly reduce range).

In an unexpected U-turn, the U.S. Senate has agreed to continue to back research for the next generation of hydrogen cars - funding that the Obama administration had earlier proposed to cut.

The move came last Thursday as Senate members voted to commit $187 million to hydrogen research, almost as much as was promised before the indecision.

In Taiwan, a new charger technology claims to be able to charge phones without even being plugged into an outlet. That’s because it taps into the power of hydrogen as a fuel source, and is expected to help put Taiwan in the list of purveyor of green technologies.

Scientists from Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute recently unveiled a charger powered by hydrogen. According to source, the device can fully charge a phone within a couple of hours, although the amount of hydrogen fuel used for that span of time wasn’t mentioned. Tsau Fanghei of the research team says they “hope the hydrogen-powered device can replace current mobile phone recharge systems in 2012.”

This is one of those topics I’m just not sure what to think of…

When the average person hears the term fuel cell, typically what comes to mind is something that mysteriously makes electricity from hydrogen. In reality the process isn’t all that mysterious—basically the hydrogen is split into its component parts (electrons and protons) and the protons are allowed to flow through the cell, but the electrons are forced to travel another path, which creates the current (and charges the battery or runs the motors or turns on the lights).

Although the hydrogen fuel cell is the most common type of cell, you can make fuel cells that use many different things, including hydrocarbons and sugars. They all work on the same basic principal, but hydrogen fuel cells are considered superior because their only emission is water vapor and they produce lots of energy.

Germany has launched an exciting new plan to establish a national hydrogen fuel network, which could be fully operational as early as 2015.

On behalf of the German government, the transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with eight industrial partners to set up the H2 mobility scheme. High profile participants include Daimler, EnBW, Linde, OMV, Shell, Total, Vattenfall and the NOW GmbH National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology.

Speaking about the groundbreaking plan, the first of its kind anywhere in the world, Tiefensee said, “Our aim is to continue consistent and systematic promotion of electromobility based on batteries and fuel cells. Today we can see that Germany is setting the pace when it comes to hydrogen and fuel cell technology. We are aiming at establishing the nationwide supply with hydrogen in Germany at around 2015 in order to support the serial-production of fuel cell vehicles.”

Mercedes has dipped its toes into the world of hydrogen power (video below) with the launch of its first-ever production fuel-cell vehicle, the B-class F-cell.

File this one under “weaksauce”. After trying to cut research funding by hundreds of millions for hydrogen technology (most of which was restored by Congress), the Department of Energy has announced a $1 million prize for a hydrogen technology breakthrough. The contest seeks an entry that will improve current hydrogen storage issues, involving highly-pressurized tanks.

But plenty of rules, red tape, and a short deadline may shortchange this contest of its best entrants.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced plans to create Britain’s first “hydrogen highway” by building a network of hydrogen filling stations throughout the capital.

As part of the scheme, a pilot fleet of around 150 hydrogen cars, five buses and 20 black taxis will be assembled in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.

The flamboyant mayor has gone on record as saying that he wants Britain to become a world leader in fuel cell technology and his team have made the ambitious claim that, within twenty years, up to one in three of the 31m cars in Britain could be fuelled by hydrogen.

A big factor holding up the push for alternative-energy vehicles is cost. Bringing alt-fuel to the masses means making it easy and cheap to reproduce. But until then, one sure way to get around the cost factor is to appeal to people for whom money is no object. Ferarri and Lamborghini are now underway developing hybrid/alt-fuel cars of their own, and Tesla’s roadster costs north of $100k.

Another contender, in the works for years and with a road-worthy prototype now complete, hails from the Ronn Motor Company. Called the Scorpion, this hydrogen-injected supercar hopes to turn the exotic world on its head.

General Motors has revealed that it is still on-track to bring a hydrogen fuel-cell car to market, within the next three years.

Industry insiders had speculated that the imminent retirement of existing boss Larry Burns would lead to the fuel-cell program being mothballed, but according to new R&D chief Alan Taub, GM will continue with its development of the technology.

“Technology leadership is one of the pillars of the company,” said Taub. “That is going to remain, and it will probably be emphasised as part of the brand of GM.”

The concept sounds like spinning fabric out of thin air, but the science is rock solid.  Catalyx Nanotech, Inc., a relatively new player in the nanomaterials market, has completed its pilot project to manufacture nanofibers from landfill gas, using a patented cracking process to break down methane into soot free elemental carbon and hydrogen.  Based on Catalyx’s success with a similar production facility in Canada, it appears that yet another way to recycle old landfills is right around the corner.