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Hydrogen Vehicle Being Tested at USDA Headquarters
On November 6, 2008, USDA began a six-month market test drive of the Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicle. Fuel cell technology is a key element of the Hydrogen Economy that President Bush touted in his 2003 State of the Union Address. The Equinox fuel cell vehicle uses no petroleum to power the vehicle, and with hydrogen as the fuel, the vehicle will emit zero greenhouse gases, only water vapor. This six-month test drive is part of Chevrolet’s “Project Driveway,” which includes one hundred fuel cell test market vehicles.
Secretary Schafer is shown looking under the hood at the fuel cell stack where the engine would be in a gasoline vehicle. The fuel cell stack is the heart of the vehicle. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts hydrogen and oxygen into water, creating electricity during the process. Fuel cells are much more efficient than gasoline combustion engines and produce far fewer pollutants. The Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicle features a 93 kilowatt fuel cell stack (enough electricity to power several homes) powering an electric motor. Along with the fuel cell stack, there is a 35 KW Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery that provides additional power and captures energy from regenerative braking. The Equinox has a driving range of more than 150 miles on a tankful of hydrogen gas.
Oxygen is collected from air scoops located in the front of the vehicle. Over 4 kilograms of high pressure hydrogen gas is stored in carbon fiber tanks.
The four water vapor “exhaust” ports on the rear of the vehicle
The first gas station with a Hydrogen filling station in D.C.
USDA Employees being trained to “fuel up” the Equinox
One of the barriers to the Hydrogen Economy is the lack of infrastructure to support fuel cell vehicles. Ideally, the hydrogen would be generated from a renewable energy source such as photovoltaic solar panels. The solar panels would provide electricity for an electrolysis process that would split water into hydrogen and oxygen. In the interim, hydrogen is obtained by reforming fossil fuels such as natural gas or gasoline. During reforming, the fossil fuel hydrocarbon is split into hydrogen and carbon. The carbon combines with atmospheric oxygen and forms carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Though this process produces far less air pollution than a combustion engine, it still does not address the greenhouse gas problem. The hydrogen gas at this Shell gas station is derived from natural gas. Fuel stations like this are, therefore, a temporary transition to a fossil fuel- free hydrogen economy.
Background: In 2003 President Bush announced the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative during his State of the Union Address. This initiative along with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Advanced Energy Initiative of 2006 are working to develop practical hydrogen fuel cells and the associated infrastructure by 2020.
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