The New York State Energy Research Department, in collaboration with the Long Island Power Authority and New York Power Authority, is leasing the silver, two-door hatchback, from American Honda Motor Co.
The effort comes as a result of a state solicitation that called for proposals from companies and organizations that support “the advancement of a hydrogen economy in New York State.”
Grant categories spanned several areas, including development, the creation of a state “Hydrogen Roadmap,” outreach and code reviews needed for development, and finally the actual production, distribution and utilization of hydrogen fuel.

In 2001 Gov. George E. Pataki ordered that at least 50 percent of all light-duty vehicles in the state’s fleet be alternative-fuel vehicles by 2005, and for that the number to be 100 percent by 2010. According to Office of General Services spokeswoman Jennifer Morris, 43 percent of the state’s light duty fleet is already made up of alternative fuel vehicles.

“Compressed natural gas or CNG vehicles make up the most of our alternative fuel fleet. The rest are propane, electric, ethanol and methanol. And, we are first state to lease hydrogen vehicles from Honda for state use,” she said.

Honda’s proposal, which it submitted with Plug Power Inc., and developed in collaboration with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. and Homeland Energy, received $735,000 from the state. It will be used to construct and operate fueling stations for the two vehicles and will give Honda the opportunity to test the Honda FCX hydrogen fuel-cell prototype.

Keeping pace with federal initiatives to explore and promote alternative fuel programs, specifically the Bush Admini-stration’s embrace of hydrogen as the best bet, NYSERDA’s project comes out of Pataki’s assertion, as stated in his recent State of the State Address, that “clean hydrogen is the motor fuel of the future – a future we need to begin preparing for now.”

In addition to the hydrogen-fuel cell project, American Wind Power and Hydrogen will receive $709,000 to for a Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine project at the University of Buffalo that would focus on converting the engines of vehicles owned by the college and the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority to burn hydrogen.

“The benefit to doing this project in Buffalo,” said John Love, associate project manager for industry research and development at NYSERDA, “is that we’ll be getting hydrogen from Praxair Inc., a specialty gas company in Tonawanda. Their hydrogen, is made as a by-product of the compressed natural gas they produce using hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls.”

According to Love, hydrogen fuel is essentially what you would call “clean” in that it either produces nearly no emissions when burned and only water when it is used to power a fuel cell.

However, the hydrogen used to fuel a car must be made. It can be produced in a myriad of ways, but most environmental groups, such as Green Peace, are critical of production processes that rely on fossil fuels and nuclear energy to generate the chemical reaction needed to turn water into hydrogen. According to Love, the hydrogen produced at Praxair would be what these groups refer to as “clean” or “green” since the energy-used process used to make it creates no pollution.

Nearly every major auto manufacturer, including Ford Motor Company, Honda and General Motors has both hydrogen-fuel cell and hydrogen internal combustion engine prototypes. But while these vehicles are available to certain parties, like companies and governments, they are not available to the public at large. There are fueling stations throughout New York and other states, but they are currently being used for training and testing.

Love has an optimistic outlook.

“We will learn from Plug Power’s initial sites on how they can be used for consumers,” he said. The nozzle at each of Plug’s fueling stations is standard throughout industry on all hydrogen fuel cell cars. The newer sites being created by Air Products are specifically for Honda vehicles, but if other vehicles come into use we can certainly entertain them.

Ford Motor Co. is making hydrogen internal combustion vehicles using vans from the state of Florida, and other states like California and Illinois have programs similar to New York’s. “I think fuel-cell vehicles may take awhile to get on the market but people converting cars to burn hydrogen will happen before that, “ Love said.

Love also noted that there is public apprehension about hydrogen.
“People are so used to dealing with gasoline, that they don’t realize its dangers, with hydrogen, since it’s a new fuel, they bring up the question of safety. The industry needs to be very careful about the way it proceeds, if there was an accident with a hydrogen car it could set the industry back considerably, “ he said.
Speaking to these concerns, Steve Ellis, alternative fuel vehicle manager for American Honda in Torrance, Calif., demonstrated safety procedures while fueling the Honda. Pure hydrogen gas is odorless and can form highly explosive mixtures with air, so he grounded the car and himself to make sure there was no static discharge or electricity, in case any of the gas had leaked from the nozzle. But Ellis said hydrogen should not be emitted from the nozzle because it must be locked into the fuel tank’s airtight seal.

Cost is another issue that might keep hydrogen cars from becoming feasible for the average consumer. According to Garnet Glover, general manager for Clean Energy’s Eastern U.S. Sales, a company that maintains eight CNG stations for the state, the industry is 10 or 20 years away from creating hydrogen economy that’s cost efficient for the consumer. “Right now if you were to build a station, it would cost eight or nine dollars a gallon.”

Glover goes on to note that it’s all based on an economy of scale. Once the infrastructure is there the prices will go down.

Another way state officials hope hydrogen goals will be achieved is through education. The U.S. government has selected Rochester Institute of Technology as one of four new Hydrogen Technology Learning Centers to be created in New York, Florida and California. Each center will receive $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to help educate the public about hydrogen technologies, applications and safety procedures as part of the federal initiative known as Freedom Car and Freedom Fuel.