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June 9, 2006

Daniel Sperling on Fuel Cell Cars

Source: PBS

Daniel Sperling is director of the Institute of Transportation Studies; associate director of the Energy Efficiency Center and professor of Transportation Engineering and Environmental Policy at the University of California, Davis. The following is excerpted from an interview he gave on cars of the future:

Future Cell Vehicles are electric cars. Hydrogen is pumped into a tank in the car, just as with gasoline. The hydrogen gas is then fed into the fuel cell where it is electrochemically converted into electricity -- with no combustion, no moving parts, and no emissions other than water vapor. The electricity is used to power the vehicle.

How viable are they as an alternative to gasoline-powered cars?

In many ways, they are more viable than gasoline. A fuel cell electric vehicle is better suited to modern vehicles that increasingly use electrical systems in place of mechanical and hydraulic to steer, brake, and control the various functions of the vehicle. Also, in a fuel cell vehicle, the entire powertrain can be consolidated into a flat "skateboard" chassis, providing automakers much design freedom in latching all sorts of different

vehicle bodies on to the chassis -- without having to work around a protruding, heat-producing engine and large mechanical driveline. A fuel cell is also 2-3 times more energy efficient than a gasoline engine.

When can we expect to see them in the future?

There is at least one automaker planning to begin selling them to the public at a reasonable price as early as 2009, and several aiming for a few years after that. But this depends on fuel suppliers building more hydrogen fuel stations and the government offering incentives to buyers (as they do now for hybrid vehicles).