The Globe and Mail today reports:
Ballard fuel cell to hit California streets
Two-year pilot test for pollution-free technology
Saturday, April 17, 1999
PETER KENNEDY and GREG KEENAN
The Globe and Mail
Vancouver and Toronto -- PETER KENNEDY
in Vancouver
GREG KEENAN
in Toronto
Ballard Power Systems Inc. will announce next week that cars and
buses powered by its pollution-free fuel cell technology will soon be
on the road in California as part of a plan to cut poisonous air
emissions there.
Automotive sources in the United States confirm that California plans
to launch a two-year pilot test of Ballard's fuel cell technology that
will initially involve 10 cars and five buses.
By the year 2003, the consortium -- which also includes Royal
Dutch/Shell Group and Atlantic Richfield Co. -- plans to expand its
tests to include at least 40 fuel cell cars and 40 buses.
Ballard officials have refused to confirm that the fuel cell maker is
gearing up to test the technology in a joint venture with partners Ford
Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG and the California government.
Ballard spokeswoman Debbie Roman said the company isn't
prepared to comment on the joint venture until details are announced
Tuesday by California Governor Gray Davis.
Ballard, the auto makers, California and at least two oil industry
giants plan a splashy news conference on the steps of the Capitol
building in Sacramento to announce the deal.
"This is a demonstration program that the state will be handling," said
a spokesman for one of the U.S. auto giants involved in the joint
venture.
The amount of money involved is not clear, but the deal appears to
represent an endorsement by California of Ballard's fuel cells and
begins a real-world test of technology that the company hopes will
challenge the internal combustion engine during the next decade.
The announcement will come about a year after Ballard agreed to
collaborate with Ford and DaimlerChrysler to develop pollution-free
fuel cells. DaimlerChrysler owns 20 per cent of Ballard, while Ford
holds 15 per cent.
While Ballard and its partners are still years away from commercial
production, California is anxious to test the technology in a bid to try
to resolve the state's massive air pollution problem. The main
pollutants are hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide spewed out by
internal combustion engines.
Under its stringent air regulations, California has decreed that zero
emission vehicles (ZEV) must represent 10 per cent of a company's
total vehicle sales in the state by 2003. It is also moving to force
makers of sport utility vehicles and even watercraft to reduce
emissions over the next several years.
Although not all the details are available, it appears the California
tests will be a larger form of pilot tests -- involving six buses -- that
are currently being performed by transit authorities in Vancouver and
Chicago.
The Chicago Transit Authority is in the second year of a $9.6-million
(U.S.) pilot program designed to expose city buses powered by
hydrogen fuel cell engines to that city's extreme weather conditions.
Noelle Gaffney, a spokeswoman for the CTA, said the tests are
going well, but no commitment has been made to put more buses on
the road.
A major stumbling block appears to be the cost of the buses, which
are manufactured by Winnipeg-based New Flyer Industries Ltd. At a
price tag of $1.4-million, the fuel cell buses are three times more
expensive than buses powered by traditional internal combustion
engines.
The CTA had to spend about a $1-million to build a refuelling station
needed to provide the buses with compressed hydrogen gas.
However, U.S. petroleum giants will be keeping a close watch on
how the fuel cell system performs in California. "Eventually, we can
see the gasoline-burning combustion engine exiting and we have to be
prepared for that," said Paul Langland, a spokesman for Atlantic
Richfield in Los Angeles.
"There are all sorts of new technologies out there," he said. "We
have to be ready to see how we can work with governments and the
auto industry to make sure that we are still in the equation
somewhere."
If the fuel cells run on hydrogen, Mr. Langland said there are
technologies available to produce that sort of fuel through
petroleum-based products.
A key question is how the companies plan to produce the hydrogen
needed to generate the electric power that will propel the car, said
Charles Ward, a University of Toronto professor who has worked
with Toyota Motor Corp. on producing a fuel system for that auto
maker's fuel cell program. Fuel cells create electric power by
combining hydrogen and oxygen.
Auto industry sources said they think the vehicles will be fuelled with
methanol that will be reformulated into hydrogen in the engine, rather
than hydrogen itself.
If the vehicles are using methanol, they will emit carbon dioxide that
does not produce smog, Prof. Ward said, but at least the creation of
a methanol fuel infrastructure is less costly than establishing a
network of hydrogen stations around North America.
Observers have estimated that existing tanks in gasoline stations can
be converted to hold methanol for less than $500-million, compared
with an estimated cost in the low billions of dollars to create a
hydrogen fuel infrastructure.
"It's not the final solution, but it's a step," Prof. Ward said.
Ballard's volatile share price, which analysts say tends to rise and fall
in anticipation of news, gained 95 cents to $48.70 on the Toronto
Stock Exchange yesterday. Auto industry analysts played down the
significance of the announcement.
"It's a long road before we see fuel cells make a meaningful impact
on the core of the retail automotive business," said Gary Lapidus,
who follows the auto industry for Wall Street brokerage firm Sanford
C. Bernstein & Co. Inc.
Mr. Lapidus doesn't expect to see large numbers of fuel-cell-powered
vehicles in commercial fleets until the middle of the next decade and
in retail sales about 10 years after that.
BALLARD'S PATH
1979: Company founded as Ballard Research Inc. by Dr. Geoffrey
Ballard.
1993: Ballard operates world's first fuel-cell-powered bus.
June, 1996: Chicago Transit Authority agrees to buy three Ballard
buses for fleet trials.
July, 1996: Ballard announces B.C. agreement to buy three buses
fortrials in Vancouver.
August, 1997: Ballard starts prototype natural-gas-fuelled power
plant to supply electricity to B.C. Hydro.
August, 1997: Daimler-Benz acquires 25-per-cent interest in Ballard.
October, 1997: Federal government grant to Ballard to help develop
fuel cells.
December, 1997: Forms alliance with GEC Alsthom PLC to develop
fuel cell technology for stationary power applications.
1998: Ballard buses begin fleet trials in Chicago.
April, 1998: Ballard, Daimler-Benz AG and Ford Motor Co. form
strategic alliance to develop and market fuel cell technology for
transportation uses, Ford buys 15-per-cent stake, Daimler-Benz cuts
stake to 20 per cent. |
