Hydrogen Hits the Roads

Car manufacturer Daimler and technology company The Linde Group are pressing ahead with the development of an infrastructure for hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles. Over the coming three years, the two companies plan to construct an additional 20 hydrogen filling stations in Germany, thereby ensuring a supply of hydrogen produced purely from renewable resources for the steadily increasing number of fuel-cell vehicles on the roads. The initiative links in with the existing H2 Mobility and Clean Energy Partnership infrastructure projects, which are being subsidised by the National Innovation Programme for hydrogen and fuel-cell technology (NIP).

EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future, is a three-year collegiate engineering competition and the only program of its kind. The competition’s mission is a vital one: offer an unparalleled hands-on, real-world experience to educate the next generation of automotive engineers. The competition challenges 16 universities across North America to reduce the environmental impact of a Chevrolet Malibu without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability. As it is, the teams will get a running start by being provided $25,000 each in part to develop computer-modeling programs to better create vehicle design while providing performance simulation. As with EcoCAR 1, organizers will present teams with their vehicles after one year and hold weeklong competitions at the end of Year 2 and Year 3, in which the vehicles will be graded on criteria such as well-to-wheel emissions, performance, safety and utility. Source: EcoCar 2

The 340 km ride started after a three minute refueling at a station in Holstebro and ended in Copenhagen four hours later with still plenty of mileage left in the tank. The vehicle used was Hyundai/Kia’s latest hydrogen SUV model, Tucson ix35. Please refer to the press release for further information (in Danish).

The second hydrogen station of the University has been installed by Air Products to Glyntaff Campus and will be supplied with hydrogen generated from solar power at the University’s Renewable Hydrogen Research and Development Centre. The installation of a second station is a significant development for the local infrastructure as the Government looks into establishing a refuelling network for hydrogen and electric vehicles along the M4 highway. The project has been part-funded by the University, the UK Department for Transport Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Grant Programme, and the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Assembly Government. For more information you can refer to the Air Products Press Release.  

The Ecole des Mines d’Albi is organizing from June 7 to 10, 2011 a training session entitled “The hydrogen markets: from research to applications.”
This Course is aimed at training engineers
and technicians stationed in the industry 
or field service communities  authorities,
elected officials.

The European Fuel Cell Energy Forum will be held this year in Lucerne, Switzerland from June 28 to July 1.
During the event, there will be presentations on the state-of-the-art technology in fuel cells and much more.

May 12, 2011 two of the latest state of the art fuel cell electric vehicles from Hyundai
KIA were showcased in Copenhagen for the first time in Europe. The launch took place at an event hosted by the City of Copenhagen, with participation of Capital Mayors of the Nordic Countries.

FuelCell Energy (FCE) has announced the receipt of a major order from South Korean company POSCO Power. FCE will supply 70 MW of fuel cell kits to POSCO over a two-year period from October of this year, with the total value of the order likely to exceed $129 million and around 40% of the contract value to be received as a down payment by October 2011. This is the largest ever order for FuelCell Energy, which will now ramp up to annual production of 55 MW. POSCO Power recently completed construction of a fuel cell system manufacturing facility in the city of Pohang, where FCE proprietary fuel cell components are stacked and integrated with the balance of plant. This facility has 100 MW annual capacity. Source: Fuel Cell Today, Infogrok.com

German environment minister Norbert Rottgen announced on May 30, 2011 that the 17-strong German nuclear power plant fleet will be decommissioned by 2022. ”The seven oldest reactors that have been placed under a moratorium and the Kruemmel nuclear power plant won’t go back online. ”A second group of six nuclear power plants will go offline at the end of 2021 at the latest and the three most modern power plants will go offline 2022 at the latest,” he confirmed. In 1998 the German government took the decision to phase out nuclear power,  Chancellor Merkel reversed this decision when she came into office in 2009, introducing a law to extend the life of the existing plants by up to 12 years. . German nuclear plants currently take care of 23% of Germany’s total electricity production.

On June 14, 2011 will be held in Milan. The conference ”The Italian hydrogen way” will be organized by the Italian Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Association (H2IT).