The keys to the Chevrolet Silverados were presented to Bruce Carlson, from Verendrye Electric, Jay Fisher, from the North Central Research Center, and Tom Mellard, from Central Power Electric. Also present during the conference were Ron Rebenitsch, from Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Kathy Gaddie, owner of Ryan Chevrolet.

“We (Verendrye Electric) are extremely proud to be a part of this program,” Carlson said. “Senator (Byron) Dorgan is to be commended for putting all of the pieces for this project together.”

According to Joel Sandy, marketing coordinator from Ryan Chevrolet, Verendrye Electric, North Central Research Center and Central Power Electric came to Ryan Chevrolet wanting the new hydrogen-fueled pickups.

“The pickups are a part of a hydrogen-fueled vehicle test program Chevrolet has for its Silverados in California,” Sandy said. “We (Ryan Chevrolet) helped supply the vehicles and found the best company to perform the conversion.”

The pickups will be incorporated with other fleet vehicles used by Central Power Electric Cooperative, Verendrye Electric Power Cooperative and the North Central Research Station. The trucks will be fueled with the hydrogen produced at the new station to be constructed this year at the North Central Research Station south of Minot. The hydrogen fuel will not be available until the fall, and in the meantime E-85 will be used for fuel.

“The pickups are production line models that have been converted to burn hydrogen, and they are already flex-fuel capable,” Rebenitsch said. “This means they can use regular unleaded gas, E-85 and hydrogen. You can’t tell the difference in the engine running when either type of fuel is used.”

Rebenitsch further explained that the whole project to convert wind energy into usable hydrogen fuel cost $2 million. The project will include funding an electrolyzer, which will take the water produced when making the electricity from the wind turbines and break it down to hydrogen and oxygen, storage tanks, fuel dispensers and the pickups themselves.

“Each truck cost about $50,000 to set up between the installation and putting in the hydrogen tanks themselves,” Rebenitsch said. “Moreover, the trucks average about 140 miles per tank depending on all variables and a fuel averagie of about $1.75 per gallon.”

Carlson said that although costs seem high, the hydrogen-fuel project is in its infancy stage.

“The project right now is truly research and doesn’t prove financial feasibility,” Carlson said. “This will all come in time.”

The pickup conversion was completed by AFVTech in Phoenix.

“The conversion was an awesome opportunity to perform,” Kevin Fern from AFVTech said. “It took about two weeks per truck to perform the conversions, including testing. Testing and performance revealed that the hydrogen-fueled vehicles didn’t give off any carbon dioxide emissions.”