Ford to Develop Test Car Fueled by Hydrogen
Stepping up its clean-fuel research, Ford Motor Co. said Monday that it would develop an experimental car powered by a hydrogen-burning internal combustion engine by year’s end.
The plan was revealed at the opening of a hydrogen fueling station on Ford’s research grounds, the first such facility in the United States.
The nation’s No. 2 auto maker is expected to spend more than $1 billion on alternative-fuel research over the next five years, including $400 million on hydrogen-based projects.
Ford joins BMW in exploring the potential of conventional vehicles fueled by hydrogen. The effort is a spinoff of Ford’s ongoing research and development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
As part of that effort, Ford said Monday that it is making progress in developing an on-board fuel processor that would generate hydrogen from gasoline before being fed into a fuel cell.
Ford and its partner, Mobil Corp., said they had developed new catalysts that would allow the gas reformer to operate at lower temperatures, thus lowering the cost by eliminating the need for exotic alloys.
“We are interested in hydrogen because it’s clean and can be made in so many ways,” said John Wallace, Ford’s director of environmental vehicles. “The world is moving from a carbon-based to a hydrogen-based fuel.
Still, there are major problems to overcome. Hydrogen is twice as expensive as gas and difficult to distribute and store. There are also safety concerns: As a gas, hydrogen is colorless, odorless and volatile; as a liquid, it must be kept under extreme pressure and at a very low temperature.
Ford, General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler all are expected to begin selling fuel-cell vehicles by 2004. Fuel cells use electricity created from the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and water.
Fuel-cell vehicles would be up to 50% more efficient than gas-powered cars and up to 90% cleaner. Fuel cells that use pure hydrogen emit only water vapor through the tailpipe.
Ford gave few details of its latest hydrogen-vehicle project, but displayed for reporters a working 2.0-liter engine fueled by hydrogen. A sedan equipped with the engine would be 25% more fuel-efficient than a gas-powered vehicle, while producing no hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. Emission of smog-causing nitrous oxides also would be lower.
“This could be a good steppingstone to a zero-emissions vehicle,” said Jason Mark, analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Ford said the installation of a $1.5-million hydrogen fueling station on its Dearborn research campus would give it greater capability to test its growing fleet of fuel-cell vehicles and analyze hydrogen refueling problems.
