Technology Guide

Network World reports that electronics maker Toshiba has put a direct methanol fuel cell inside a cell phone, but “commercial availability of the technology isn’t expected soon.”

The prototype cell phone, which Toshiba is showing at the Ceatec exhibition in Chiba, Japan, offers around six hours of talk time with the DMFC, according to a Toshiba executive manning the company’s booth. A conventional battery in the same handset would provide between three and four hours of talk time, the executive said.

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Source: Bill Hobbs

The Christian Science Monitor reports on the fourth annual AltWheels Fleet Day held Sept. 28 in Framingham, Mass., near Boston.

The event featured 45 alternative-powered vehicles on display, making it the largest alternative vehicle showcase on the East Coast. The 300 participants were triple the number of just a year ago, says event found Alison Sander. They included Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, Isuzu, and a host of aftermarket and specialized manufacturers. Listening to their pitches were corporate fleet managers, who are looking to save money on transportation costs as well as green-up their image.

Office supply retailer Staples - which is currently testing two hybrid delivery trucks built by Isuzu and equipped with electric motors from Enova- hosted the event at its headquarters.

Smith Electric Vehicles, based in Britain, showed off a large delivery truck (pictured) that’s all electric (lithium-ion battery-powered and boasts an estimated cost-per-mile of 11.5 cents. The article reports that Smith plans to begin selling the vehicles in the US beginning next year.

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Source: Bill Hobbs

The New York Times reports on the launch of a hydrogen fuel station on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, and the chicken-or-egg conundrum facing the development of a fuel-cell vehicle future. The paper calls the station “a futuristic experiment posing as an ordinary fuel station [that] may be bringing the world one step closer to the hydrogen age.”

Carmakers have argued that without a network of hydrogen filling stations they couldn’t roll out fuel-cell vehicles from the research lab to the dealership. Energy companies, on the other hand, said that without large numbers of fuel-cell cars available at reasonable prices, they saw little point in building a costly new fueling infrastructure.

This classic chicken-or-egg dilemma has long hobbled the development of most alternative fuels and has assured the supremacy of oil. Thanks to low prices and abundant reserves just a few years ago, energy providers and automakers simply had little incentive to end the petroleum age. But, faced with the perils of global warming and soaring prices, automakers and oil companies have begun a hasty search for alternatives and have been working together to break the hydrogen logjam. Their answer is to introduce both cars and new fuel stations, clustering them in urban centers like Los Angeles, Berlin and Tokyo.

“The game now is about clustering; it’s the only way to take this next step,” said Duncan Macleod, vice president of Shell Hydrogen.

Not really. Home-based hydrogen refueling, via a system like this one being developed by Honda which converts natural gas to hydrogen, would seem to be a potentially viable option.

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Source: Bill Hobbs

ATZ Online reports on the latest fuel cell news from Kia:

The Sportage FCEV is undergoing constant testing and evolution as part of Kia Motors’ continuing fuel cell electric vehicle programme. The research has resulted in numerous technical innovations, including a higher output 100 kW fuel cell and a new lithium-ion polymer 152 V battery pack, which give the Sportage FCEV higher performance, an extended 300 kilometres driving range and a cold weather start-up capability to operate in sub-zero temperatures. The Sportage FCEV is equipped with hydrogen-powered fuel cells and a drivetrain developed in-house by Kia.

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Source: Bill Hobbs

Researchers are looking for better ways to store hydrogen, and if any of the possible breakthroughs mentioned in this post at EcoGeek prove effective at a reasonable cost.

Because hydrogen’s energy density is so low compared to gasoline, the equivalent of a tank of gas amounts to an enormous volume of hydrogen. Fuel cell vehicles today solve that problem by compressing the hydrogen gas into heavy metal tanks. These tanks, however, could use improvement. Much energy is lost simply compressing the gas, and some are concerned about the safety of a tank of highly pressurized, explosive gas .

The breakthrough for Autrey came when he discovered a more efficient way to synthesize AB – something that could make or break a technology’s ability to go to scale.

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Source: Bill Hobbs