← Back to “Energy” main page

Page Outline:

1. Basic Facts
2. Low Cost of Hydrogen Fuel
3. Honda to Mass Produce Hydrogen Powered Cars
4. What Is Washington Doing?
5. Sources

Basic Facts

The following facts come from the U.S. Department of Energy.¹

• Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen fuel does not produce greenhouse gases or pollute the environment.
• Hydrogen is an extremely aboundant resource and can be formed using various techniques.
• In addition to using water as a source of Hydrogen, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power can also be used to produce Hydrogen.
• For more basic facts about hydrogen visit the US Department of Energy’s “Increase Your H2IQ” webpage. On this webpage there are several basic fact sheets in downloadable PDF format.

Honda to Mass Produce Hydrogen Powered Cars

On June 16, 2008, the automobile manufacturer Honda announced the beginning of production for the CFX Clarity, a hydrogen powered vehicle which gets the equivalent of 74 miles to the gallon. The Clarity, according to a New York Times article, is “the world’s first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle intended for mass production.” Honda representatives have stated that the company will produce 200 CFX Claritys over the next three years. Unfortunately, the 200 Claritys will not be able to be purchased outright but leased for $600 a month. For those individuals who are looking to own a hydrogen car, Honda says that it hopes to have hydrogen vehicles for sale and with a price tag under $100,000 within a decade. Currently, each Clarity is being subsidized by Honda as a result of the vehicles costing many hundreds of thousands of dollars a piece. At the moment, it appears that this first release of 200 hydrogen cars by Honda is most likely intended to serve as a marketing tool to prove to the public that hydrogen is a viable alternative to gasoline.²

Low Cost of Hydrogen Fuel

In May of 2007, a company called H2Gen Innovations was awarded the Department of Energy Hydrogen Program R&D Award, “In recognition of Outstanding Achievement in Technology Innovation.” The award was given after H2Gen created a hydrogen generator capable of producing hydrogen fuel at the equivalent of a $1.50 gallon of gas.³

BMW Hydrogen Car Cleans Air
According to engineers at the US Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory, BMW’s new Hydrogen 7 prototype luxury sedan is one of the “lowest emitting combustion engine vehicles that have been manufactured.”⁴ In fact, “the car’s engine actively cleans the air. Argonne’s testing shows that the Hydrogen 7’s 12-cylinder engine actually shows emission levels that, for certain components, are cleaner than the ambient air that comes into the car’s engine.”⁵ One of the main differences, mechanically speaking, between traditional hydrogen powered cars and the new BMW Hydrogen 7, is that, instead of utilizing hydrogen fuel cells to power an electric engine, the BMW Hydrogen 7 burns liquid hydrogen to run its 12-cylinder combustion engine.⁶

What Is Washington Doing?

Hydrogen Fuel Initiative

From 2003 to 2008, the federal government spent $1.2 billion on hydrogen fuel technology research and development under President George W. Bush’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. As part of this federal focus on hydrogen fueled vehicles, the US Department of Energy initiated the Energy Hydrogen Program. Researchers with this new program have laid out a guide, the Hydrogen Posture Plan, which they hope will have hydrogen cars competing in the commercial marketplace with other vehicles by the year 2020.⁷

← Back to “Energy” main page

Sources