Shell chief sees H2 difficulties
The outgoing President of Shell's U.S. operation has thrown some cold water on the latest GM and Toyota PR offensive for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Shell's John Hofmeister told a Sacramento, Calif., audience Monday at a conference on low-carbon fuels that widespread use of hydrogen as an automotive fuel remains one to three decades out. GM's Larry Burns recently called on fuel providers (read oil companies) to make a greater effort to roll out hydrogen fueling stations. Hofmeister sees difficulty convincing service station owners to make the investment required to offer a fuel for which there is no near-term prospect of vehicles. The federal government has provided over $1 billion dollars for hydrogen and fuel cells to little practical effect. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's pet Hydrogen Highway project, to which he has devoted millions of taxpayer dollars, "is going to be a long, drawn-out process. These infrastructure issues are going to continue getting in the way."
[Source: Edmunds.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
KarenRei 2:21PM (4/17/2008)
And of course, EV fast charging stations can be installed with an order of magnitude less investment than hydrogen pumps, and modern EV batteries can take a nearly full charge in as little as five minutes. But nobody seems to care.
Reply
Woodenbee 2:44PM (4/17/2008)
Gee what an amazing coincidence 20-30 years is about how long they can keep using oil till its all gone, in the meantime any gas station owner who tries to switch to Hydrogen can be bullied into submission or simply put out of business, wow it's almost like the big oil companies run the country.
Reply
Tim 2:43PM (4/17/2008)
The only people who can't seem to grasp the problems with H2 are those who profit most from the tax money redistribution.
Thieves, thieves, tramps and thieves...
Reply
KarenRei 3:33PM (4/17/2008)
1) You're dreaming if you think that something that we can make from coal, bitumen, shale, or countless other sources at prices ranging from $10-40 a barrel is going to be "gone in 30 years".
2) Hydrogen is *worse* than gasoline for the environment because of its inefficiencies.
3) Normally oil companies *like* hydrogen because the cheapest way to make it is from natural gas.
Reply
steven 3:37PM (4/17/2008)
@1: Question not a critique: What EVs have these batteries installed?
Reply
Mark 4:26PM (4/17/2008)
The governments can't seem to grasp the simple concept that the electric infrastructure is ALREADY in place, and very few power stations need to be built. Look at Canadian cities..we HAD to build up our infrastructure so we could plug in our cars in the winter. Canadian cities are ready for electric cars. BRING THEM OUT DAMMIT.
Reply
ev 4:47PM (4/17/2008)
Mark,
Unfortunately the global market runs similar everywhere. Canada's govt isn't making any incentives to get Electrics on the road as ZENN I believe had to move production away from Canada. It's not a matter of feasibility because it can be done and no naysayer can say it can't. It's the mentality that is wrong and the business that runs on it. Which also conversely runs the govt. If you are swimming in money then why would you change the infrastructure in which you'll lose money?
Reply
meme 9:12PM (4/17/2008)
"Question not a critique: What EVs have these batteries installed?"
Most mainstream next-gen EVs and PHEVs. Aptera, VentureOne, Volt, MiEV, Phoenix, etc.
Reply
A.Brien 11:48PM (4/17/2008)
The ?5g75 car manufacturers just have to install a water tank with an electrolyser inside the car that change the water to hydrogen, then no need to have an hydrogen station. It's already invented by stan mayer. The efficiency come from the fact that the volume of the water when it's electrolysed is multiplied by 1000 or more. One drop of water is changed to a gas 100 times more voluminous then the drop and when you ignite it it become more voluminous again by 10 or more. So this process have an ideal impedance match for an internal combustion engine that need sudden pressure increase in the engine. After that process of spinning the engine the drop of water return to the same native state so you have 0 pollution. It's a miracle told by mosus in the bible, separate the %4r*7 water molecule in 2 by god sake for cheap and eternal gas of unlimited energy for the next millions of years ahead. Jesus is written on the side of the car of stan meyer in youtube. I think that the resistance toward hydrogen come from the era of the bible, it's in the uncouncious memory but some still remember. The biology cycle start with water electrolysis and petrol is the end of that cycle and should be left in the ground except for plastics manufacturing and some wheel bearings grease too.
Reply
meme 1:13AM (4/18/2008)
"It's already invented by stan mayer."
Stanley ("Stan") Meyer was convicted of fraud in 1996.
Reply
Chris M 2:06AM (4/18/2008)
The oil companies are the major producers of H2, and they plan to sell H2 when "cheap" oil runs out.
But the transition will be expensive, so the oil companies hope to persuade the government to subsidize all the cost so they can reap all the profits.
Also, they are still making enormous profits from petroleum fuels, and are in no hurry to transition to any other fuels, and really don't want to see plug-ins!
Reply
Jim 7:41AM (4/18/2008)
"manufacturers just have to install a water tank with an electrolyser inside the car that change the water to hydrogen...After that process of spinning the engine the drop of water return to the same native state"
I have a perpetual motion machine in my basement that I'm not using anymore since I fuel my cars with Rice Krispies. I wonder if Stan would be interested in buying it...
Reply