Hydrogen Sources - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 123

er steam pressures are not uncommon. Reformers generating 1,500 psig
steam can be found in some industries.
HYDROGEN AUTO POWER
Hydrogen powered cars need to hold enough fuel to get the 300 mile
driving range of today's IC cars. Hydrogen service stations are few, so
refueling becomes a problem. About 12,000 fuel stations in the hundred
largest cities in the U.S. would put 70% of the population within 2 miles of
fuel. At a cost of one million dollars per station, $12 billion would be need-
ed to provide a fuel infrastructure. This is less than half of what it would
cost to build the Alaska pipeline in today's dollars.
Shell Hydrogen is planning for the first use of fuel cell cars in 2010
with a surge between 2015 and 2025 but technical and market challenges
could delay any commercial success of the fuel cell car. Car manufactur-
ers must raise onboard hydrogen storage capacity, cut the price of fuel cell
drive trains and increase the power plants' operating lifetimes. Hydro-
gen fueling must be in enough stations to allow drivers to enjoy a range
comparable to diesel fuel. If fuel cell and internal combustion cars have
the same refueling, power, and convenience features, and one costs much
more than the other, it will suffer.
The 50 million tons of hydrogen that is produced worldwide per
year is enough to fuel 200 million vehicles. The hydrogen produced from
natural gas in a two step reforming process costs about $4 to $5 per kilo-
gram which is the chemical equivalent of a gallon of gasoline.
When hydrogen is produced from water, it takes 50-kW of power
costing about $2.50 per kg of hydrogen at present utility rates. This does
not include other costs such as physical plants, storage facilities and trans-
portation.
Plug Power, a Latham, NY, based manufacturer of stationary hydro-
gen fuel cell generator units for backup power has developed a hydrogen
fueling station with the help of Honda. This station uses a small steam
reformer that extracts hydrogen fuel from natural gas using steam. The
steam reformer has been reduced to half the size of the previous version.
Along with refueling vehicles, the system provides hydrogen into
a fuel cell stack to produce electricity for buildings on the site, which are
also warmed by the waste heat generated by the power unit.
The fuel dispensing pump is about the size of a washing machine.
First, the car is grounded by attaching a wire to the vehicle. The fuel hose