Advances in fuel cell technology could give them the range and power source that Choset has been looking for.
Furukawa Battery, the Tokyo-based supplier of power systems , is commercializing a magnesium fuel cell technology that generates electricity using salt water as an electrolyte.
On the contrary, start-up companies like Westwood, MA-based Acumentrics are similarly pursuing a solid-oxide fuel cell technology tailored to the needs of the military.
FORBES: Lockheed Gambles On Green Generators For U.S. Military
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, wants to make Britain a leader in fuel cell technology and has already announced plans to increase hydrogen refuelling stations around the capital.
ENGADGET: UK's first fuel cell-powered black cab hits the streets of London
Toyota has always believed that fuel cell technology is the long-term answer for zero emissions driving, so the company pulling back from a tepid market should not be viewed as a surprise.
By 2020 or so, depending on the progress of fuel cell technology, the last of the island's 9, 500 gasoline cars will be gone and only water-vapor-emitting fuel cell autos will remain, according to Taniguchi's plan.
The fuel cell technology, which is being developed with support of the U.S. Office of Naval Research, will be tailored to integrate with solar PV panels, which will reduce the amount of fuel needed to support forward operating military bases.
FORBES: Lockheed Gambles On Green Generators For U.S. Military
Jim Fletcher, a mechanical engineering doctoral student in fuel cell technology, said the bus is 10 percent more efficient than comparable diesel buses -- a first step in what researchers expect will one day be a far more efficient form of transportation.
Fuel-cell technology has been around for 150 years, so why is it attracting attention now?
Wonderful, and we did this without resorting to all-electric cars or fuel-cell technology.
Automakers are working furiously on fuel-cell technology, in the hope that it will free us from our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce pollution.
Morgan Stanley has raised money for Tesla Motors, a producer of electric cars, and it has invested in Bloom Energy, an innovator in fuel-cell technology.
Siemens and Shell, for example, have just announced a new fuel-cell technology for oil rigs that will capture emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, generate power from them cleanly, and sequester the exhaust.
Researchers at Virginia Tech have found a way to efficiently extract hydrogen from plant materials, overcoming one of the obstacles that led the Obama Administration to put hydrogen fuel-cell technology on the back burner.
FORBES: Could Hydrogen Breakthrough Revive The Fuel-Cell Car?
The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press both reported Friday that GM is moving the engineers -- who have been working on the fuel-cell technology in the company's advanced development laboratories division -- to the company's core production engineering division, which designs vehicles to be brought into production.
Frankly, I believe that solid oxide fuel cells are the better technology in the long run, but Fuel Cell Energy owns 43% of the shares of VERSA Power that also makes solid oxide fuel cells.
He cites FuelCell Energy's work for the Department of Energy on a technology known as the fuel cell hybrids, or power plants that cut emissions by combining fuel cells with conventional gas turbines.
Mr. Marchionne held up hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion as an example of faddish technology that proved impractical.
WSJ: Fiat 500e Review: The Bosses Don't Love It, but You Will
This is currently being done with large-scale investment into plug-in electric vehicles, and "clearly, we can use this technology to go across to fuel cell vehicles", he explains.
Additional tax credits for choosing hybrid, fuel cell, alternative fuel and advanced lean-burn technology vehicles have been offered since 2005.
FORBES: Can Sirius XM Tune In Big Subscriber Growth This Year?
Mike Brown, an executive with UTC Power, a leading fuel-cell maker, said the fuel cells need to last at least four or five years for the technology to be competitive.
FORBES: The Economics of Bloom Energy's 'Breakthrough' Fuel Cell
Additionally, the president called for expanding his existing tax credit proposal, which currently applies to hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles, to include those using new clean diesel technology.
Toyota and BMW said they would expand a technology-sharing pact to speed the development of fuel-cell vehicles.
In August, Bush signed an energy bill laden with special business-tax breaks for new nuclear power facilities, "clean coal" technology, coal mined from Native American lands, refinery expansion, fuel-cell power plants, hydrogen refueling stations and for producers of energy-efficient appliances, commercial buildings and homes.
应用推荐