The city of Santa Ana, California is now the proud owner of five Toyota Prius hybrids that were converted to run on hydrogen gas instead of gasoline. But producing vehicles that are impractical today and planned for extinction tomorrow may not be the best investment of tax dollars.
Optmistic researchers hope that fuel cell vehicles (that convert hydrogen into electrical energy to drive electric motors) will bring us a future of emission-free transportation. But since fuel cell technology still has considerable challenges in cost, performance (in extreme temperatures) and energy efficiency, researchers are working on hydrogen combustion engines as an interim step.
However, fossil fuels (most likely natural gas) are converted to hydrogen to power these vehicles, which is an expensive and inefficient process that does not provide the environmental benefits of fuel cells.
According to Quantum Fuel Systems, which received a $2.3 million contract to modify the Prius vehicles, developing hydrogen ICE's is done "In order to stimulate the early demand for hydrogen, expedite the development of infrastructure, and provide a bridge to fuel cell vehicles..." and it is an "opportunity to educate the public on the use and safety of hydrogen as a fuel through its demonstration in vehicles with which the public is already familiar."
We need to consider the appropriateness of investing in research (and this is one of many such projects) solely to promote the "hydrogen economy" and gain some mindshare with consumers. Unless there are some useful derivative technologies from hydrogen ICEs, funding the appropriate solutions for today (hybrid vehicles, biodiesel, ethanol, and natural gas) and fuel cells of tomorrow is a better use of resources. However, if fuel cells never pan out, and we run out of oil and must use solar and wind power to split water into hydrogen, then perhaps hydrogen ICEs will be necessary after all.
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