Fuel cell maker eyes state.
Michigan in running for Ballard factory
January 20, 2000
Detroit Free Press
BY EMILIA ASKARI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
As crowds flock to the North American International Auto Show to pay homage to the internal combustion engine, a handful of executives from a Canadian company are considering whether Michigan would be the best place to build the automotive power train of the future: fuel cells.
Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver, British Columbia, the leader in developing this new kind of power source, announced last week that it's checking out locations for a North American plant that would employ about 700 people.
Michigan and the rest of the Midwest are in the running. So is California, where many of the first cars powered by fuel cells are expected to be sold.
A number of factors has to go into account in
locating the plant, Ballard Chairman Firoz Rasul
said in an interview last week. "One is proximity to
the customer. One is the cost of labor and the cost
of materials. The availability of skilled labor. The
automotive manufacturing base is centered around
southern Ontario, Michigan, Ohio -- so the
Midwest is pretty attractive. We haven't decided
exactly where it's going to be. It'll depend on a
whole bunch of these factors."
Rasul said he was approached by people eager to
arrange a meeting between Ballard executives and
Michigan state officials. He declined to discuss the
kind of tax or other incentives he is seeking before
breaking ground in 2002. State economic
development officials also declined comment.
The new factory will produce the next generation
of fuel cell, which Ballard unveiled last week
during the auto show's media preview. Like many
previous models of fuel cells, the design mixes air
with hydrogen and feeds the mix into a thin filter
that sifts out electrons and forces them into
batteries for energy. The batteries power a motor
that can drive a car. The only by-products are
heat and water vapor.
The new Mark 900 series Ballard fuel cell
improves on its predecessor, the 700 series, in
several areas: size, voltage and cost to
manufacture.
The 700 series requires two stacks of membranes
to produce 75 kilowatts of electricity. The 900
model takes just one stack. It's smaller and uses
different materials that allow cheaper
manufacturing.
The new model will function at temperatures as
low as 40 degrees below zero whereas its
predecessor didn't function well in temperatures
lower than 37 degrees Fahrenheit.
That means the new fuel cells might be marketable
in Michigan and other places that experience harsh
winters. The amount of water the fuel cell emits is
comparable to the amount a traditional
internal-combustion engine produces, Ballard
executives say.
Company executives say that substituting materials
helped them achieve the improvements. They
won't give details for proprietary reasons. One of
the significant new materials is a flexible graphite
that replaces a hard graphite in the membranes.
The hard graphite had to be machined in a costly
process. The flexible material can be stamped in a
continuous process.
Fuel cells will be about the price of
internal-combustion engines when they are
produced in volumes of 250,000 to 300,000
annually. Ballard executives expect to start limited
production by 2003 and reach the 300,000 target
well before 2010.
That goal sounds plausible to alternative-fuel
experts from Ford and DaimlerChrysler. The
two have formed a partnership with Ballard to
develop fuel cells.
"Three hundred thousand in 2010 is possible.
Sure," said Bill Powers, vice president of research
for Ford Motor Co.
Chris Borroni-Bird, senior manager of technology
strategy planning for DaimlerChrysler, agrees, but
points out that making fuel cells cost-competitive
doesn't mean that the new technology will replace
the old immediately.
That may be beyond 2010. But first, the cost of
other power train components associated with fuel
cells must be reduced. For example, hydrogen fuel
storage systems cost more than gasoline tanks.
Electric motors cost more than the transmissions
that accompany internal-combustion engines.
Once the oil and auto industries reach some kind
of agreement on what fuel to use, a whole new
fuel station infrastructure might be needed. As an
interim solution, fuel cells can be powered by
more readily available fuels, such as methanol, that
produce air pollution.
EMILIA ASKARI can be reached at
313-222-6487 or at askari@freepress.com
|
