SPRING 2006
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Berkeley gets the keys to hydrogen-fueled car
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Institute of Transportation Studies research engineer Tim Lipman is one of the PATH drivers testing the prototype fuel cell vehicle.
SARAH YANG/BERKELEY NEWS CENTER PHOTO
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Berkeley transportation researchers are test driving a new hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) on two-year loan from DaimlerChrysler Corporation, part of its Fuel Cell Project for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
The car is in the commercial fleet of California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH)—a research center of Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies—where researchers will drive the vehicle and assess its real-world performance.
The emerging technology provides an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional cars. In place of a battery, the FCV engine creates its own electricity using hydrogen as fuel and oxygen from the atmosphere. The byproduct is water, making FCV exhaust much cleaner than gasoline or diesel engines. But the vehicles take up to 10 minutes to refuel and have a limited driving range. With only 16 hydrogen fueling stations in the state, the technology also lacks a cost-efficient infrastructure.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created a public and private partnership to support development of FCVs, including a plan to create 50 to 100 new hydrogen fueling stations in California by 2010. The DOE has several teams working on the Fuel Cell Project, with the goal of helping U.S. car manufacturers decide by 2015 whether FCVs are commercially viable.
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