Sam, I know this is the GLE thread but since you brought it up, I thought you would be interested in the following tidbit:
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
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.
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