WASHINGTON, DC, February 4, 2009 (ENS) – The range-extended electric Chevrolet Volt has been named the 2009 Green Car Vision Award winner by the auto magazine “Green Car Journal.” The award was presented at a press conference this morning at the Washington Auto Show.

The show opened to the public today at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and runs through Sunday.

Competition for the Green Car Vision Award was keen, with plug-in hybrid, range extended electric, battery electric, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles all in the running.

“The Chevy Volt offers a bold and far-reaching approach that will bring an exceptionally fuel efficient model to consumers at reasonable cost,” said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the “Green Car Journal” and editor of GreenCar.com.

Pre-production model of the Chevy Volt on display (Photo courtesy General Motors)

Unlike traditional electric cars, the Chevy Volt has a propulsion system that uses a lithium-ion battery with a gasoline-powered, range-extending engine that drives a generator to provide electric power when drivers go beyond the 40 mile battery range.

“Besides being a great design, the Volt promises exactly what many consumers are asking for – a car capable of driving on zero emission battery power most of the time at pennies per mile, with over 100 mpg possible on longer journeys when electric power from its range extender engine generator is needed,” said Cogan.

General Motors is hustling to bring the Volt to market next year. Over 200 engineers and 50 designers are working on the Volt and another 400 are working on related subsystems and electric components, says Tony Posawatz, the vehicle line director at General Motors responsible for the Volt.

The Green Car Vision Award recognizes the most important vehicle in an award year that best envisions the road ahead, but is not yet on sale.

It complements Green Car Journal’s Green Car of the Year award, which focuses on new vehicle models that lead the field in environmental performance and are now available at new car showrooms. The 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI was named Green Car of the Year in November, the first time that a clean diesel model has won the title.

The Chevy Volt won the Green Car Vision Award over other innovative models that Cogan says each also promise to share in the future green car market.

Fisker Karma: The brainchild of auto executive and designer Henrik Fisker, the Karma features a plug-in hybrid powertrain by joint venture partner Quantum Technologies. It is launching later this year.

Honda FCX Clarity: The FCX Clarity is a hydrogen fuel cell sedan currently being driven by consumers in an evolving demonstration program.

MINI E: This zero emission vehicle is an electric version of the conventional internal combustion MINI Cooper. About 500 MINI Es now are being leased in three states as a way to gauge the market.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV: The i-MiEV is a battery electric city car based on an internal combustion model already popular in Japan. Examples are being tested in a demonstration program with Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

On Monday, Carol Browner, special assistant to President Barack Obama for energy and climate change, got a personal showing of the Chevy Volt from Ed Welburn, the chief designer for General Motors.

“I found the Volt to be very comfortable – and surprisingly simple,” Browner wrote on the White House blog. “You plug it in and you can get 40 miles on a single charge! Because nearly 80 percent of Americans commute 40 miles or less a day, this car could potentially provide 80 percent of Americans with a zero-emissions option for their commute.”

A former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton administration, Browner was welcomed to the show by Auto Alliance CEO Dave McCurdy, who stressed the importance of green technologies and green jobs in the auto industry.

“This kind of innovation and shift in design is key to the renewed success of the American auto industry,” Browner blogged.

“We saw the new Ford Fusion,” she wrote. “This is another example of a technology that will benefit from funding for battery investments in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – the kind of forward thinking that we ought to be encouraging and supporting.”

Passed by the House of Representatives last week, the Obama administration’s multi-billion dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is being debated in the Senate, with a vote expected on Friday.

“The technology is there. And the demand is there,” blogged Browner. “And now, in the face of our dangerous dependence on foreign oil and a faltering economy, there is urgent need to support the industry and nurture this kind of development. That’s why passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is so crucial – because it brings significant resources to develop new and emerging green car technologies as well as tax credits for consumers to purchase new advanced technology vehicles.”

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WASHINGTON, DC, July 18, 2008 (ENS) – It will take massive subsidies from the U.S. government to make hydrogen fuel cell vehicles a significant part of the nation’s transportation future, according to a National Research Council report released Thursday. The study finds that even under a best-case scenario only about two million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be on American roads by 2020, less than one percent of the nation’s estimated total number of cars and trucks.

Achieving that goal would require the government to pump at least $55 billion in subsidies over the next 15 years to make hydrogen vehicles cost competitive with conventional cars and trucks, the report concluded. Current government spending has equaled some $879 million since 2004.

But the chair of the committee that wrote the report said the suggested government funding should be put in perspective with other subsidies.

Dr. Mike Ramage (Photo courtesy
Purdue University)

If current funding and policies continue, the federal subsidy for corn-based ethanol over the same time period is on pace to reach $160 billion, said Mike Ramage, a former vice president for research and development at Exxon Mobil and chair of the 17-member panel.

“We need durable, substantial and sustainable government help to make this happen, just as there is for ethanol,” he said.

The 249 page report, which was requested by the U.S. Energy Department, contends that the funding may well be worth it as it could set the stage for accelerated adoption of hydrogen vehicles by mid-century.

The allure of hydrogen fuel cells is their potential to help shift the U.S. transportation sector away from oil and to cut emissions linked to climate change. The only byproduct from a hydrogen fuel cell is water.

The environmental benefits of hydrogen would be “less in the early years but would be dominant” over a longer time period, Ramage told reporters on a telephone briefing.

The committee’s best case scenario envisions that if the technical and economic obstacles are overcome in the next 15 years, the growth of the technology could accelerate dramatically.

The Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen car
is available in California for limited
leasing for the first time this summer.
(Photo courtesy Honda American
Motors)

It suggests the number of hydrogen vehicles on U.S. roads could jump to nearly 60 million in 2035 and to 200 million by 2050.

This shift could reduce the U.S. transportation sector’s oil consumption some 60 to 70 percent by 2050.

But the obstacles blocking the technology are daunting, the committee acknowledged, and overcoming them would require continued technical improvements, cost reductions and government policies and funding to encourage adoption of the hydrogen vehicles.

There is little existing capacity for hydrogen production, which remains expensive, and although major automakers are dabbling with the technology, fuel cells still face challenges of storage, cost, reliability and safety.

And the most significant hurdle could be the high cost and logistical complexity of distributing hydrogen to fueling stations across the nation.

These challenges are why the government would need to spend billions of dollars just to get two million hydrogen cars and trucks on the road by 2020, according to the panel.

The report suggests that government funding be used to purchase hydrogen vehicles to replace about half of the government’s fleet of cars and trucks and to help consumers keen on the technology afford the new vehicles.

The Toyota Fuel Cell Hydrogen Hybrid
Vehicle was introduced in fall
2007. (Photo courtesy Hydrogen
Cars Now)

“It is very important to get those hydrogen vehicles on the road and get real world experience with this,” Ramage said.

The cost issue for consumers is “a much greater challenge” than the industry’s ability to ramp up production, he added.

A sizeable chunk would need to be spent on subsidies for fuel stations, the committee said, to get round the “chicken and egg problem.”

The report notes that companies are reluctant to spend much money on fueling stations until a significant numbers of hydrogen cars have been sold. Similarly, automakers are unlikely to sell many vehicles until an adequate number of fueling stations are available.

“A way around this quandary is to stage hydrogen fuel cell vehicle introduction in phases by region,” the committee said.

The report also estimates about $5 billion in federal funds be spent on research and development and $10 billion be earmarked for hydrogen production.

The committee noted that a key to the environmental benefits of hydrogen cars is how the fuel is produced. Hydrogen produced from coal or other fossil fuels lessens the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The report suggests policies are needed to promote low-carbon hydrogen production, including carbon capture and storage technology, and assumes advances in coal gasification under its “best-case” scenario.

The Ford Flexible Series Edge is a
plug-in hybrid hydrogen vehicle,
introduced in 2007. (Photo
courtesy Hydrogen Cars Now)

Although the report centered on hydrogen technology, Ramage told reporters that the committee concluded the government should not focus solely on hydrogen fuel cells as the solution to reducing the environmental impact of the nation’s transportation sector.

The greatest possible reductions in oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions would occur if biofuels, fuel-efficient conventional vehicles and hydrogen vehicles are all pursued simultaneously, he explained.

“There are other technologies that fit in this mix that we did not look at,” he added, noting the committee did not consider plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles – technologies that some environmentalists contend offer far more short-term environmental benefits than hydrogen cars.

“This study clearly indicates we don’t think people should be picking winners and losers,” Ramage said. “They probably will all be important in the long run.”

To find the National Research Council report, “Transitions to Alternative Transportation Technologies: A Focus on Hydrogen,” click here [www.nap.edu].

By J.R. Pegg

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TOCHIGI, Japan, June 16, 2008 (ENS) – Honda’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle other than concept cars rolled off the assembly line today in Tochigi Prefecture at the world’s first dedicated fuel cell vehicle manufacturing facility.

Nineteen years in development, the FCX Clarity was designed from scratch as a fuel cell vehicle. Only water is emitted from the tailpipe – no greenhouse gases, no smog or soot or other by-products of burning gasoline.

The 2008 Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell
car (Photos courtesy American
Honda Motors)

It is powered by a compact, efficient, powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack, which Honda Engineering Co., Ltd produces, also in Tochigi.

The car is propelled by an electric motor that runs on electricity generated in the fuel cell, in combination with a new compact and efficient lithium-ion battery pack and a single hydrogen storage tank. The refueling range is 270 miles. Honda says the fuel efficiency is three times that of a modern gasoline-powered automobile.

The four passenger sedan’s low-slung appearance is made possible by the innovative layout of the fuel cell power plant, and Honda is emphasizing that the FCX Clarity is fun to drive as well as environmentally responsible.

The first production FCX Clarity rolled off the line just three weeks before the car’s debut in front of world leaders attending the Group of Eight summit July 7-9 in Hokkaido Toyako.

A new dedicated fuel cell vehicle assembly line has been established at the Honda Automobile New Model Center in Tochigi. Here the cars will be produced using processes unique to a fuel cell vehicle such as the installation of the fuel cell stack and hydrogen tank.

To manufacture the fuel cells, unique automated equipment was designed to ensure precision quality while enabling mass production of the fuel cells, with several hundred cells required for each fuel cell stack.

At a ceremony today at the Honda Automobile New Model Centre, Honda hosted three of the drivers who will have the first cars and showcased the new production processes.

Dashboard of the Honda FCX Clarity

On hand to see how the cars they will drive are manufactured were actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest, and film producer Ron Yerxa.

California drivers will have the FCX Clarity fuel cell car first, even before drivers in Japan. The first five customers, announced Sunday, are the actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest; film producer Ron Yerxa; business owner and car enthusiast Jim Salomon; actress and green advocate Laura Harris; and Jon Spallino, partner and chief financial officer of an Irvine, California engineering and construction firm and the world’s first retail customer of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle.

Lease sales are scheduled to begin in July in the United States and this fall in Japan. The combined Japan-U.S. sales plan calls for production of a few dozen units within a year and about 200 units within three years.

American Honda announced that three Southern California dealerships will be the world’s first fuel cell automobile dealership network. Power Honda Costa Mesa, Honda of Santa Monica, and Scott Robinson Honda are each located near hydrogen refueling stations and will be well-positioned to support FCX Clarity customers.

“This is an important day in the history of fuel cell vehicle technology and a monumental step closer to the day when fuel cell cars will be part of the mainstream,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda.

“Our customers and dealers share in our vision for a cleaner and more sustainable transportation future, and share in our challenge to embrace a new generation of automotive technology that we think will carry the auto industry and its customers into the future,” he said.

The five customers announced today were among the very first people to share with Honda their passion for the environment and interest in the FCX Clarity, dating back to its debut as a concept model at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.

FCX Clarity filler inlet for
hydrogen gas

“Auto companies can’t explore the potential for fuel cell technology as the ultimate solution to our world’s energy and environmental challenges by ourselves,” said Mendel. “Our customers are true pioneers and leaders in the effort to bring fuel cell technology to the marketplace.”

One of the reasons for this limited initial release is that in order to drive a fuel cell vehicle, drivers must be able to refuel, but hydrogen fueling stations are not on every corner.

Therefore, only customers living in the Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine areas will be eligible to take an FCX Clarity home. Honda wants to ensure that FCX Clarity drivers can take their vehicles in for service at the three participating dealers and have convenient access to refueling stations.

The 2008 FCX Clarity is available for lease only, there is no purchase option. Honda says it will lease the cars for $600 per month for 36 months; the total of monthly payments equals $21,600. There is no mileage limitation or excess mileage cost.

Honda is responsible for the development of the world’s first fuel cell car, the Honda FCX, to be certified for regular commercial use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board; the first deployment of a fuel cell car with a fleet customer; and the first individual retail customer for a fuel cell vehicle.

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SACRAMENTO, California, April 15, 2008 (ENS) – California is seeking experienced and qualified teams to compete for part of $7.7 million that will be spent to construct and improve hydrogen-fueling stations in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.

The Air Resources Board is dispensing the funds to advance Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Hydrogen Highway initiative that is promoting the creation of a hydrogen refueling network.

Currently, there are 24 hydrogen stations operating in California, with more planned, and there are at least 209 hydrogen powered vehicles operating throughout the state.

Hydrogen fueling station at the University of
California-Irvine’s North Campus
(Photo courtesy Hydrogen Cars Now)

The state is pursuing a transition to clean energy and energy diversity by promoting automobile manufacturers’ and energy companies’ efforts to employ hydrogen as a power source for vehicles and electricity production.

“We are shifting California’s economy to clean energy and hydrogen plays an important role,” said Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols. “We have burgeoning technologies that use hydrogen to power vehicles and in the future could provide electricity for homes.

“The increased use of hydrogen in the transportation sector would diversify California’s energy sources and reduce harmful smog forming and climate changing emissions,” Nichols said.

The new funding follows Air Resources Board’s recent amendments to the Zero Emission Vehicle program, which forces auto manufacturers to place 7,500 zero emission vehicles on the road by 2014.

Some of these will be fuel cell vehicles dependent on readily available sources of hydrogen.

Hydrogen can provide energy with minimal-to-zero pollution. When produced from a clean renewable source – such as water, wind, sun, biomass or biogas – and used in fuel cells, hydrogen use has extremely small impacts on the environment.

Compared to today’s average gasoline-powered vehicle, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles produce 50 percent less greenhouse gases and 40-90 percent less smog-forming and toxic emissions, even when powered by hydrogen produced from natural gas, currently the most common method.

The application deadline for funds is June 13, 2008. For more information and guidelines for applying go here [www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov] and in the agency option select Air Resources Board.

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TOPEKA, Kansas, January 10, 2008 (ENS) – An experimental hydrogen fuel cell switch locomotive is under development by two cooperating companies – BNSF Railway and Vehicle Projects. Field testing is scheduled to start later this year.

The fuel cell locomotive has the potential to reduce air pollution, is not dependent on oil for fuel, and could serve as a mobile backup power source for military and civilian disaster relief efforts.

“At BNSF, we believe that it is good business to minimize our impact on the planet and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the communities we serve,” said Craig Hill, vice president, BNSF Mechanical and Value Engineering.

“While it’s not a proven technology and the project is still in its infancy, we believe investments like the fuel cell switch locomotive are important for the advancement of new technology,” he said.

“As a nation, two widely-accepted issues are global climate change and energy insecurity, which have a common factor – oil,” said Arnold Miller, president, Vehicle Projects.

“The world burns millions of barrels of oil for energy, and the waste carbon is then emitted to the atmosphere. Because they don’t rely on oil as a fuel source, fuel cells solve these two issues. Along with our principal partners, BNSF and the U.S. Army, we at Vehicle Projects are developing proof-of-concept hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that are leading the way to this new technology,” Miller said.

Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, said, “I’m pleased to have been working for the past two years to procure funding for the fuel cell locomotive. The progress that BNSF and Vehicle Projects are making in its development is remarkable, and their work is helping to wean America off foreign oil.”

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, BNSF Railway operates one of the largest North American rail networks, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces.

Rail is the most fuel efficient mode of surface transportation, moving a ton of freight more than 400 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel, the railway company said in a statement, adding that each BNSF intermodal train on the rails can take more than 300 long-haul trucks off the highways.

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OVIEDO, Florida, December 7, 2007 (ENS) – Florida’s second hydrogen vehicle fueling station was opened with a ceremony today in the city of Oviedo, about 10 miles northeast of Orlando, where the state’s first hydrogen station opened in May.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, Secretary Michael Sole joined executives from Ford Motor Company, BP America, Inc., Progress Energy Florida and the United States Department of Energy to officially open the new fueling station.

“By using state-of-the-art technology we are demonstrating the power of alternative energy in Florida’s future,” said Sole.

The hydrogen demonstration project is part of an initiative unveiled in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Energy. That same year BP and Ford selected the Sunshine State as one of three sites in the nation to demonstrate pollution free hydrogen fuel cell cars.
Hydrogen fueling station at Oviedo, Florida (Photo courtesy Florida DEP)

Ford supplied the Florida DEP and Progress Energy Florida with six hydrogen powered Ford Focus fuel cell vehicles through a federal government project.

One of the hydrogen-powered Fords gives DEP park rangers a pollution-free ride during everyday operations at Wekiwa Springs State Park, which attracts nearly 185,000 visitors annually to its freshwater springs. The 8,000-acre park protects the headwaters of the Wekiva River.

Two more fuel cell vehicles are used by DEP’s Central Regulatory District for field inspections.

Progress Energy Florida’s energy efficiency specialists and customer account managers are using the other three hydrogen cars at their Jamestown Operations Center.

BP America supplies the cars with hydrogen fuel through a grant from the state of Florida.

“BP is committed to developing cleaner fuels,” said Maria Curry-Nkansah, BP’s hydrogen business development manager. “With this station, we will continue our work to gain real-world experience in hydrogen fueling infrastructure and help build public awareness of this developing technology.”

“This program is an example of how government, energy companies and the auto industry are working collaboratively to assess the potential of hydrogen as an alternative fuel,” she said.

Hydrogen can power cars by replacing gasoline in an internal combustion engine or as a source of power for a fuel cell. A fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, which powers the car and emits only steam.

“The opening of this second station under the Ford-DOE Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project represents another step forward for hydrogen as an alternative fuel,” said Sheral Arbuckle with Ford’s Research and Advanced Engineering Department.

“We have made much progress in hydrogen propulsion over the past 15 years and are pleased that our energy partner, BP, has continued their efforts in supporting this project with the much needed infrastructure to fuel our vehicle fleet,” she said.

In May, Governor Charlie Crist opened the state’s first hydrogen energy demonstration station in Orlando. The station fuels hydrogen-powered shuttle buses and provides a test platform for showcasing the production, storage and dispensing of hydrogen fuel.

Partners in that fueling station are Ford Motor Company, Chevron Technology Ventures and Progress Energy Florida.

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It’s not often that “cars” and “sustainable design” get mentioned in the same breath, but we think Honda’s new FCX Clarity is worth the exception. It’s their first production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, based on the FCX Concept (which we mentioned before [www.sundancechannel.com]), and, in a couple ways, represents a significant step forward in design and in transportation.

California’s proposed Hydrogen Highway may still be in its infancy, but starting next year Southern Californians will be able to lease the FCX Clarity [automobiles.honda.com], touted as aa full-fledged production fuel cell vehicle. The announcement came at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show [www.nytimes.com], where all the big automakers have unveiled their latest eco-models, including Chevy’s new Tahoe Hybrid SUV, which just won Green Car of the Year. The Hybrid Tahoe is indicative of a general trend toward hybrid and flexfuel vehicles, and away from the greatly hyped hydrogen fuel cell car. Movies like “Who Killed the Electric Car” and negative press coverage, combined with the Big Three’s reluctance to embrace the technology, had led many to believe hydrogen was a dead end.

Green Car Congress [www.greencarcongress.com] has all the stats on the design and engineering feats included in this sizable achievement, including 68 mpgge (miles per gallon gasoline equivalent) and a range of 270 miles. Honda has been moving forward with fuel cell technology ever since they debuted the FCX back in 2002, despite the lack of fueling stations and questions about the environmental implications of hydrogen production. They have steadily tweaked and improved the vehicle; the big breakthrough seems to be in the 45% smaller powertrain,which frees up space for the larger hydrogen tank and battery pack, and increases the power-to-weight ratio by 25%. It is still unclear how many Clarities will be manufactured in 2008, but they will only be leased for three years to certain customers in Southern California, at a cost of $600 per month.

Like many significant achievements in design, the simple fact that the Clarity now exists is its most notable accomplishment; arguments about the efficacy of hydrogen in the global economy aside, it proves that the way that cars (in this case) are designed can make a difference: when you drive a Clarity, you are emitting a grand total of zero carbon emissions. No need to worry about capturing and sequestering it, and no need to buy carbon offsets for your driving; there is nothing to worry about coming out the tailpipe. Scale that up to a city (or even a state, as California plans to do) and that’s a meaningful accomplishment. So, will hydrogen cars save the world? Not by themselves, and, while producing hydrogen is still tricky [www.nytimes.com] from an environmental standpoint, the Clarity stands as proof that design, even in automobiles, can help change the world.

Earlier this week [www.sundancechannel.com], we began peeking under the hood of the Hypercar [www.hypercar.com], a concept car for the 21sts century originally conceived by the folks at the Rocky Mountain Institute [www.rmi.org] (RMI). Today, we’ll look at some of the synergies that the vehicle uses to its advantage to create a new way of driving.

Hypercar is all about improved technologically efficiency; creating a vehicle whose performance is greater than the sum of its parts. From the propulsion (hydrogen fuel cell) to the lightweight carbon-fiber body (that allows for less powerful, less fuel-intensive propulsion) to the regenerative braking (which also requires less hardware, because the vehicle is so much lighter and therefore requires less to stop), everything comes together to create a working, almost living system. After the initial tests in the early 1990s, the Hypercar team determined that the vehicle would be four to eight times more efficient than an electric vehicle using standard sheet metal automotive construction technology, meaning that if an electric vehicle could get the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon, Hypercar could come in somewhere between 400 and 800. Armed with these numbers, along with innumerable other tests, and after formally introducing the concept at the 1993 International Symposium on Automotive Technology and Automation, Hypercar won the Nissan Prize and RMI founded the Hypercar Center, an additional nonprofit arm dedicated to supporting the rapid commercialisation of ultralight hybrid vehicles.

From 1994 to 1996, Hypercar Center’s emphasis was on further validating the concept from design and market perspectives through computer modeling and by publishing technical papers. demonstrating that Hypercar vehicles could work, that all market requirements could be met, and that the myriad of technical challenges could be overcome. In 1999 Hypercar, Inc. was spun off as a for-profit start-up company to commercialize the Hypercar concept and to start getting them made. And by 2000, all key technologies had been demonstrated. So what’s the hold-up? Some of the difficulties lie in the hydrogen infrastructure [www.sundancechannel.com] we discussed yesterday; some lie in the sheer magnitude of time, money and energy needed to move a car from concept to production. More than that, it may be that the world is not ready for Hypercar or an equivalent just yet, but as soon as Hypercar is ready for the world, we’ll be waiting.

With the What’s the Big Idea? Contest [www.sundancechannel.com] in full swing here at the Sundance Channel (have you submitted your big idea yet? Why not?), we thought it’d be a good opportunity to take a look at a few other “big ideas” that are just a few twists and turns (and maybe a contest win?) away from making a big impact toward a greener planet. First on the list: hydrogen fuel cell-powered transportation, exemplified by the env bike [www.fuelcellsworks.com].

Pronounced “envy,” the env bike is the world’s first purpose-built fuel cell vehicle (for a quick primer on fuel cell’s, and how they work, see Wikipedia’s entry [en.wikipedia.org]. Basically, fuel cells produce electricity while emitting only water vapor). It uses a fuel cell that’s about the size of a suitcase (it fits beneath the seat; see a picture of it below) to create a maximum of six kilowatts, which powers the bike up to 50 miles per hour and a range of about 100 miles (or four hours – whichever comes first). In addition to creating zero tailpipe emissions, the bike is also virtually silent. In many ways, it’s similar to the Tesla Roadster [www.sundancechannel.com]: sexy design promoting a new and potentially revolutionary fuel technology, but the env bike takes it a step further by using a fuel cell instead of batteries to make it go. It really works, too; check out this video [www.treehugger.com] that shows it in action.

Of course, there are a few reasons that fuel cells are still a “big idea” rather than a “green reality,” and the biggest of these reasons is the availability of the catalyst fuel; hydrogen, in this case (but that’s another post). If/when fuel cells become viable, the possibilities are virtually endless; in the case of the env bike, “the core” (their name for their fuel cell) has been designed to be portable and flexible. Imagine: you could take it from your house, where it’s powering your kitchen appliances, and plug it in to the bike, which you could then ride to the grocery store (and maybe stop to get a recharge of hydrogen). When you get home, it goes back to powering your house, and “round and “round goes the cycle, producing clean power all the way. Happily, the env bike may not just be a big idea much longer; they recently partnered up with the Suzuki Motor Corporation [www.intelligent-energy.com], to deliver “a series of advanced, compact and lightweight fuel cell systems, which are intended to become an integral part of Suzuki’s future motor products.” So cross your fingers that we’ll be seeing more of the env bike soon, and stay tuned for more big ideas.

Though TreeHugger tends to prefer things like walking and electric bicycles [www.sundancechannel.com] to car-centric transportation, automobiles are a way of life for many of us. While burning gasoline and creating emissions are not a good thing for the planet, thankfully, there are some forward-looking automakers and cars that are testing prototypes that have the potential to change our collective driving from dirty and polluting to clean and green.

Technologies like plug-in hybrids, diesel-electric hybrids, all electric cars and fuel cell-powered vehicles have turned a lot of heads to this point, and for good reason; they represent a future in which petroleum-based fuels are no longer viable and car powerplants produce little or zero emissions.

Here are some of TreeHugger’s favorites:

[*]The one making the biggest splash during the past year or so is the Tesla Roadster [www.treehugger.com] (top image, left), the all electric convertible two-seater that’ll do 0-60 in about four seconds, gets 250 miles per charge, and costs about one penny per mile to operate — that’s the equivalent of 135 miles per gallon! Perhaps the best news is that the first ones will hit the road later this year.
[*] Honda’s FCX fuel cell vehicle [www.treehugger.com] (top, center) has been making headlines and turning heads for awhile, but word on the street is that it’ll go into production in two-three years.
[*] Not to be outdone, General Motors will lease 100 fuel cell vehicles [www.treehugger.com] to lucky customers this year, to get the technology some practical, real-world experience.
[*] Earlier this year, Chevy introduced the prototype for the Volt [www.treehugger.com] (top, right), a plug-in hybrid with an all-electric range of 40 miles and the option to switch out the gasoline-driven generator engine for an engine that runs on E85, diesel, bio-diesel, pure ethanol or even a hydrogen fuel cell; this gives buyers the choice of different engines based on fuel availability and prices in their region.
[*] The XR3 hybrid [www.treehugger.com] (above, left) is a three-wheeled diesel/electric hybrid “motorcycle” that will supposedly get 125 mpg, top out at 85 mph and be available in just a few months [www.treehugger.com].
[*] Similarly, the Aptera [www.treehugger.com] prototype (above, right) was recently unveiled [www.treehugger.com] with drool-inducing performance numbers, including fuel efficiency of 230 miles per gallon while humming along at 55 miles per hour. Of course, biodiesel [www.sundancechannel.com] is the way to go when it comes to these diesel-powered beauties.

TreeHugger is fond of saying that “the future is green.” As long as we see some of these rides on the roads before too long, there’s no limit to how green the future will be.