Independence Day from petroleum? We're closer

More than 40 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles over the long July Fourth holiday, and tens of millions more will make shorter journeys, predicts the AAA, whether to the beach, a summer cottage or simply to share hot dogs and watch fireworks with family and friends.

It may be called Independence Day, but our reliance on the automobile underscores the fact that the nation  is still heavily dependent on petroleum – with all the consequences that brings from economic and environmental standpoints. But an announcement in New York this week 

could be thought of as the energy equivalent of the Declaration of Independence.

At a joint news conference, General Motors and Honda announced an ambitious new joint venture that they hope will allow them to transform the fuel cell from a scientific curiosity to a mass-market reality by the end of the decade. Described by some experts as a “refillable battery,” a fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen from the air to create a steady stream of 

current that can be used to run electric motors. The only thing steaming from a fuel-cell vehicle’s tailpipe is water vapor.

The technology could take the country closer to “weaning ourselves off petroleum,” according to Charlie Freese, GM’s global director of fuel cell development.

Together, the two makers have about 200 prototype fuel-cell vehicles, or FCVs, undergoing field tests to see how they perform in day-to-day, real-world use. Other manufacturers, including Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota are also experimenting with hydrogen propulsion.

Both Honda and Toyota hope to launch low-volume production of new FCVs by 2015, though American Honda CEO Tetsuo Iwamura stresses that anything close to mass market levels will likely not occur before the end of the decade — or later.

Fuel cells were initially developed over 100 years ago, but the first serious application only occurred with the launch of the U.S. Apollo missions in the 1960s and early 1970s. During the Apollo flights, fuel cells provided electric power during the long trips to the moon. To make the technology viable under the hood of a car means bringing the size, weight and cost down by many orders of magnitude.

The hurdles facing hydrogen power are similar to those facing battery propulsion. Electric vehicles are still costly, offer limited range and require time to recharge — 

with relatively few public charging stations yet available. So, even while more plug-ins 

and pure battery-electric vehicles reach market every month, total demand is so far less than half of one percent of the overall U.S. automotive market. 

The problem, cautions Dr. David Cole, chairman-emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., is that “there’s no silver bullet,” no single solution that can achieve the switch away from petroleum.