" One small step for PEM's, One giant leap for Hydrogen ", this time in scooters, with long time DCHt friend DRI playing a role.
ragingbull.com
Taiwan Group Launches PEM Scooter Project With Help from Texas
A&M, DRI
Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter mhv.net
COLLEGE STATION, TX/TAIPEI, TAIWAN - A major Taiwan
industrial
group that owns the country's largest motorcycle manufacturer, San
Yang,
is moving ahead with a program to develop PEM fuel cell- powered
scooters.
The Chinfong Industrial Group decided in mid-June to put together a joint
venture which other major financial and industrial group as well as the
Taiwan government are expected to join.
The project had its start a year ago with a decision by the W. Alton Jones
Foundation, Charlottesville, VA to sponsor such a project (H&FCL Oct.
98). Original participants include the Desert Research Institute, Texas
A&M University, and the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research, the
leader of this project, Dr. Douglas Loh, a professor at Texas A&M
Agricultural Experiment Station, told H&FCL. Dr. Loh is a native of
Taiwan.
In Taiwan, the commercialization effort was spearheaded by Dr. Chunto
Tso, of the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research and also a member
of
the original team.
Lightweight PEM Stack, Cooling System are Keys The technological
keys
to the fuel cell scooter concept are a lightweight, compact fuel cell stack
for a 3 kW PEM system and a compact air cooling system that would fit
into the limited space on a scooter, Loh said. Both were designed by Dr.
John Appleby, director of Texas A&M's Center for Electrochemical
Systems and Hydrogen Energy (CESHR) and a member of the scooter
development team.
The scooters are expected to operate on hydrogen, stored in hydride
canisters holding enough hydrogen for maybe an hour's worth of
operation
at full power and a range of some 50 miles (80 km), according to very
early estimates.
Hydrogen is likely to be supplied by China Petroleum Corp., a
state-owned but commercially operated company, and also the Taiwan
Salt Corp., according to Loh. Both are hydrogen producers and both
expected to sign up with the joint venture. One way to distribute
hydrogen,
according to Loh, may be to sell hydride canisters through 7-11 type
chain
stores that are virtually on every Taiwan street corner, he added.
Replace Two-Stroke Two-Wheelers With Electrics
The project idea germinated with a initiative formulated a couple of years
ago by the Taiwan government to replace 40% of the island's heavily
polluting 2-stroke motorcycles and scooters with electric versions
between next year and 2004, Loh explained. Taiwan produces about 1.5
million such vehicles, meaning that some 600,000 electric versions are
supposed to be operating by 2004, according to Loh.
However, beginning last year, it quickly became clear to both
manufacturers and consumers that lead battery power was "highly
undesirable and impractical due to weight, range and recharge problems,"
Loh said, making fuel cell power a "more appealing alternative."
Loh says the new company is expected to be up and running by the end
of this month. As many as four different prototypes, to be completed by
the spring of 2001, are to be designed by San Yang's research and
engineering facilities, drawing on U.S. technologies. A demonstration fleet
may start operating some time between early 2001 and 2002, and the
planners expect series production to start by 2003.
Contact: Dr. Douglas K. Loh, phone 409/845-1551, 409/845-9749, e-mail
loh@tamu.edu.
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