Honda Prefers Hydrogen as U.S. Pushes Battery Autos

Here's a nice article with a possible direction of the Auto Industry....
Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. is backing hydrogen power for the cars of the future, a stance at odds with the Obama administration’s decision to drop automotive fuel-cell technology in favor of battery-run vehicles.

“Fuel-cell cars will become necessary,” said Takashi Moriya, head of Tokyo-based Honda’s group developing the technology. “We’re positioning it as the ultimate zero-emission car.”

Honda, the only carmaker leasing fuel-cell autos to individuals, opened a production line last year in Tochigi prefecture to make 200 FCX Clarity sedans. The Energy Department sought to eliminate hydrogen-station funding and instead lend $1.6 billion to Nissan Motor Co. and $465 million to Tesla Motors Inc. to build electric cars, and give $2.4 billion in grants to lithium-ion battery makers.

“Honda has a propensity to think very long term,” said Ed Kim, an analyst at AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, California. “It’s also part of the company culture that if they’ve made a decision they think is correct, they’ll really stick with it.”

Honda isn’t alone. Toyota Motor Corp., Daimler AG, General Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. say hydrogen, the universe’s most abundant element, is among the few options to replace oil as a low-carbon transportation fuel.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in May his department would “be moving away” from hydrogen as it’s unlikely the U.S. can convert to the fuel even after 20 years. Nissan Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn predicts battery cars may grab 10 percent of global auto sales by 2020. Honda hasn’t announced plans for a battery-electric car.

Honda’s American depositary receipts fell 3 cents to $31.93 at 4:02 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have risen 50 percent this year.

Fuel Costs
Hydrogen, made mainly for industrial use from natural gas, costs about $5 to $10 per kilogram for vehicles in California, more than double an equivalent amount of gasoline. Fuel-cell cars also have at least double the efficiency of gasoline models, with Clarity averaging 60 miles per kilogram.

The Energy Department estimates future prices for hydrogen will fall to $2 to $3 a kilogram, Toyota said on Aug. 6.

The fuel can also be made from solar and wind power and even human waste.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda said Aug. 5 his company plans consumer sales of fuel-cell cars within six years. Toyota, like Honda, is making “exponential progress” with the technology, Justin Ward, manager of Toyota’s U.S. advanced powertrain program, said in an interview.
Battery cars are further along in the market. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. started selling the i-MiEV last month. Tesla sells the $109,000 Roadster and Nissan unveiled its electric Leaf this month, with sales to start in Japan and the U.S. next year.

Fueling Time
Honda says hydrogen vehicles match the refueling style drivers are used to: filling up in minutes at a service station. Nissan’s Leaf recharges fully in 30 minutes with a fast-charger, or up to 16 hours on a household outlet, said Tetsuro Sasaki, senior manager of Nissan’s battery test group.

A budget crisis slowed plans for more hydrogen stations in California, home to the biggest fleet of cars using the fuel. At the federal level, Chu sought $333.3 million in May for battery and advanced gasoline autos in the 2010 budget, up 22 percent. Hydrogen funds were cut 60 percent to $68 million, slashing money that would have gone to transportation projects.

The Clarity is available in the U.S. only in Los Angeles, where drivers can use as many as 16 hydrogen stations. The 5- passenger car has a top speed of 100 miles an hour and goes 240 miles (386 kilometers), more than double the 100-mile range of Nissan’s compact electric car. Through July, Honda leased cars to 10 drivers for $600 a month.

Filling Stations
The need for a network of hydrogen filling stations is a problem.

“We cannot do infrastructure alone,” said Moriya. “We’ve been developing the cars on our own without government support.”

The Senate and House voted in July to restore the funds. President Barack Obama must approve the final budget.

Honda and Toyota will have to reduce production costs to win over consumers. Fuel cells need platinum -- a precious metal that costs more than $1,200 an ounce -- and current durability is half that of gasoline engines, according to Moriya.

Honda plans to offer hydrogen-fueled cars at prices comparable to midsize gasoline autos by 2020, down from a company estimate that Clarity’s 2005 hand-built predecessor cost about $1 million. Moriya wouldn’t discuss the Clarity’s price.

Expensive Platinum
Honda engineers in Tochigi are trying to trim costs. For 13 months, technicians have worked in a semiconductor-style clean- room, coating rolls of plastic film for fuel-cell membranes. Nearby, a press stamps stainless-steel plates that will grip the material. Hundreds of the cells are then sealed in a metal case, forming the fuel-cell stack.

Honda’s hydrogen push has been undermined by plunging sales in the U.S., its main market. Last quarter, profit at Japan’s second-largest carmaker fell 96 percent to 7.5 billion yen ($79 million). Its research budget is 515 billion yen this fiscal year, down 8.5 percent. Funds for fuel cells were cut and some spending shifted to other “priorities,” Moriya said, without elaborating.
Honda probably spends “a few tens of billions of yen” a year on fuel cells, said analyst Mamoru Kato at Tokai Tokyo Research Center in Nagoya.

“Maybe, just maybe, fuel cells will be the future,” said Edwin Merner, who helps manage about $3 billion at Atlantis Investment Research in Tokyo. “And if you’re not in there, then you have a big disadvantage.”

Source;
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=atHH0LYy6MYA

Fuel cells finally staged to power the future, thanks to Honda's FCXClarity.

The fuel cell has long been viewed as pie-in-the-sky engineering - something to dream about, but having little chance of ever changing the world's dependence on fossil-based fuels. In the past couple of years, however, things have started to change. Big time.

In the past, most fuel cells had a life cycle of around 1,500 hours (or approximately three years of normal use) before there is a noticeable decrease (15 per cent) in performance. The latest fuel cells address this shortcoming while accomplishing so much more.

For example, Kia's Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) program took a big step forward with the debut of the Borrego FCEV at last year's Los Angeles Auto Show. When compared to the 108 horsepower, fuel cell-powered Sportage I drove in 2007, the Borrego boasts a 44 per cent boost in power. The fuel cell and its 450-volt supercapacitor storage system is capable of putting 154 horsepower to the pavement while delivering a best-in-class system efficiency of 62 per cent. The upshot is a top speed of 160 km/h, a zero- to 100- km/h time of 12.8 seconds and a driving range of 680 kilometres from its 202-litre hydrogen tank.

As in life, it is usually the smallest of things that make the biggest difference - and it's usually a eureka moment that leads to the breakthrough. This is particularly true of the Honda FCX Clarity. In the FCX's case, the eureka moment came when Yozo Kami, executive chief engineer of the FCX, literally turned the fuel cell stack on its head.

In 1999, Honda's fuel cell was large (it needed 4.7 cubic feet to house it), weighed 202 kilograms and had an output of just 60 kilowatts. While the output had risen to 86 kW and the weight had dropped to 96 kg by 2003, size still represented a significant challenge - enough that it necessitated the use of a SUV-like vehicle to accommodate it. The FCX's V Flow (for vertical flow) fuel cell, introduced in 2007, is housed in a box about the size of a standard aircraft roll-on suitcase (1.9 cu. ft.), weighs just 67 kg and produces 100 kW of real-world power - a massive 50 per cent increase in the power-to-volume ratio.

The V Flow's other breakthrough seems so simple in hindsight. Conventional fuel cell stacks lie horizontally in the vehicle, which consumes valuable space. The V Flow stack stands vertically between the FCX's front seats. Reorienting the stack not only reduced its space requirement, it eliminated a major drawback: When the fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen (to produce electricity), it also produces water that needs to be drained. During the winter months, any water left within the fuel cell at shut down freezes which renders the fuel cell useless. The V Flow uses gravity to rid the cell of the water. This twist also allows the fuel cell to be started at -30 C, meaning it's capable of working just about anywhere in the world, including northern Canada.

To take the original FXC from concept to reality, Kami also needed a smaller electric drive motor and smaller battery pack. No problem. The FCX Clarity's coaxial electric motor is 162 millimetres narrower than its predecessor and by adopting a new 288-volt lithium-ion battery pack, the mass and space requirements dropped by 40 and 43 per cent, respectively. The latter means the battery is now small enough to fit under the rear seat. All of this work delivered a fuel cell powertrain that's a whopping 180 kg lighter and 40 per cent smaller than Honda's previous unit.

The electric motor delivers 134 horsepower and 189 pound-feet of torque anywhere from one to 3,056 rpm. The result is a ton of low-end grunt (enough to set off the traction control system if one nails the accelerator) and a sustained pull through the mid-range. It also delivers a top speed of 160 km/ hour and a real-world driving range of 440 km, both of which are a match for a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle.

After driving the FCX Clarity it became only too obvious to me that the fuel cell has finally come of age. The proof came in April at New York Auto Show. The FCX Clarity was named the 2009 World Green Car - it beat 22 contenders from 25 countries to take the prestigious crown.

Celebrities are also buying into the whole zero-emission thing. On Aug. 5, 2008, Jamie Lee Curtis became the second person to take delivery of an FCX Clarity. Curtis is one of approximately 200 customers who will lease the vehicle in the United States and Japan, the vast majority of vehicles being based in Southern California where there is some semblance of a refuelling infrastructure.
The globalization of the fuel cell system and hydrogen's potential to become the next fuel source is growing as more people start to recognize the need to develop realistic zero-emission vehicles. Europe and Japan will likely be the first to embrace fuel cells. In North America, it is going to take some serious political will to begin the shift away from today's gas-guzzling frenzy and towards tomorrow's hydrogen-driven world.

automotive@sympatico.ca

Source;
http://www.canada.com/Fuel+cells+finally+staged+power+future+thanks+Honda+FCXClarity/1590751/story.html