The Hydrogen Fuel Quest

Are you one of the skeptics, who think that hydrogen-powered cars are science fiction? If you are, think again. Many of the leading car manufacturers are in the final stages of a plan for a mass production of hydrogen-powered vehicles. For instance, BMW has announced that as early as this year (2008) it will launch the first vehicle, which runs on hydrogen fuel.

The Bavarian giant is really into the idea to manufacture a large number of vehicles, which run on hydrogen fuel. Let us hope that in the next months we will witness the launch of the first such vehicle. BMW are not the first automaker to go for hydrogen-powered vehicles. In 2000 General Motors announced its plans to launch a car, which runs on hydrogen fuel but many people think that it will take 20 or more years till this becomes a reality.

Those people just do not know that hydrogen-powered vehicles are a reality. BMW announced in 2004 that they are working on such a vehicle and their promise was that by 2008 there would be many BMW cars on hydrogen fuel on the streets. Recent pics of BMW cars draw a lot of attention in all kinds on media, not only on automotive blogs. The recently launched 7 Series use hydrogen fuel as an alternative to gas. Many people watched the test run of the vehicle.

However, it is premature to declare that hydrogen fuel will take the world by storm. Internal combustion engines are still dominating the market, while hydrogen fuel is in the early adoption stages. Some of the issues with hydrogen fuel are as follows: 1. Costs. Hydrogen fuel is not dirt-cheap. At present, fuel cells are still a bit expensive but as technology develops, prices will certainly drop.

When that happens - i.e. the prices of fuel cells become affordable by the majority of car owners; you can expect that hydrogen fuel will become a real substitute of gas. 2. Technological limitations. Manufacturing hydrogen cells requires a substantial amount of fossil fuel. Additionally, the implementation of the hydrogen infrastructure is not cheap - some experts estimate that 1 trillion dollars will be necessary in order to implement the infrastructure alone.

In any case, it is clear that billions of dollars are necessary to fund the transition to hydrogen fuel. 3. Storage issues. Storage and transmission are another problem. Due to the nature of hydrogen, which reacts negatively to steel, the existing gas pipelines cannot be used to transmit hydrogen fuel. This means that governments and other organizations must create a new distribution system for hydrogen fuel.

Nevertheless, many of the leading car manufacturers and the federal government are making efforts to stimulate the use of hydrogen fuel as an alternative fuel. Once a hydrogen infrastructure becomes a reality, this will be of tremendous value to humankind. One of the unbeatable advantages is that the US and the other rich countries will be independent from foreign oil manufacturers.

Of course, the greatest benefit is that the emissions of greenhouse gases will drop substantially, which will lead to a better environment for everybody. The above-mentioned benefits are the driving force, which makes governments and car manufacturers push the use of hydrogen fuel and the creation of hydrogen infrastructure. If the government provides support for the development of hydrogen technology, this will be of benefit to everyone.

The quest for hydrogen fuel will never happen, if only BMW, General Motors, and the other car manufacturers are the driving force. If there is no support from the government and the public, then hydrogen fuel will never become the mass fuel. If you do care about the planet, make your contribution - use hydrogen fuel more and gas less.

Martin Applebaum

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