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Technology Stocks : Ballard Power -world leader zero-emission PEM fuel cells -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HarveyO who wrote (4400)	10/13/1999 12:05:00 PM
From: Hawkeye	Respond to of 5827

From Forbes Oct. 18 issue: Honda and Toyota are going to sell low-emission cars that use both gasoline and a battery. GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler think the future lies elsewhere. Whose Car is Greenest? By Terril Yue Jones IN DECEMBER HONDA WILL BE selling an automotive wonder, a 70-miles-per-gallon gas sipper. The Honda Insight is the first "hybrid" car to go on the U.S. market-hybrid because it's got a three-cylinder gasoline engine boosted by a small electric motor. In June Toyota weighs in with its gas-electric hybrid, called Prius. These cars combine incredible fuel economy and range with vastly reduced emissions. So where are the Americans in the battle to develop a car that doesn't run on gasoline? Not on the hybrid bandwagon. Instead, General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler are going for the big kahuna: fuel cells that produce zero emission. Fuel cells combine hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity. Its only emission is water. And unlike battery-powered cars, fuel cells don't require frequent recharging. Yes, mass-market fuel cell technology is at least four years away and lots of obstacles remain, but the Big Three figure that with gas prices low they have the luxury to skip hybrids on their way to zero-emission cars. "Fuel cells could be the Holy Grail for the pollution-free car," says GM President G. Richard Wagoner Jr. GM's ambitious goal: use fuel cells in 10% of its cars sold by 2010. The Big Three are going for broke with fuel cells and the "Holy Grail" of zero emissions. It's a risky strategy. Honda's two-passenger Insight is technologically impressive. The 1.0-liter combustion engine provides the main power while the 7hp electric motor adds the kick needed during acceleration and hill climbing. The braking process recharges the batteries. Honda aims to sell 4,000 Insights in the U.S. in the coming year at under $20,000. Toyota plans to sell 12,000 of the five-passenger Prius in the U.S. for around $20,000 each. But at those prices, the Japanese hybrids are loss leaders. They win points with environmentalists and provide practice for meeting tough California environmental rules taking effect in 2003. While the Big Three are studying hybrids, too, they are essentially going for broke with fuel cells. DaimlerChrysler, the most aggressive, has already developed six fuel-cell vehicles. GM introduced its first fuel-cell prototype last year, a modified Opel minivan. The bad news is that the fuel-cell system took up four of the car's seven seats. The good news: That's down from six seats a year ago. Other hurdles: The prototype engines have low acceleration and don't go far without a refill of liquid hydrogen or an alternative fuel. Ford's P2000 goes about 99 miles while DaimlerChrysler's Necar 4 gets 280 miles. Researchers aren't sure that pure hydrogen gas is the best fuel to use anyway, since it's explosive and hydrogen-gas stations aren't exactly on every corner. Still, advances in fuel-cell technology have convinced the automakers they're better off forgoing the interim steps. Heck, Honda and Toyota aren't naive. Both have developed fuel-cell prototypes themselves.