Necar - alternativer Antrieb

DaimlerChrysler Vehicles Demonstrate Four Different Approaches
To Fuel Cell Technology
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 13 - DaimlerChrysler today
demonstrated fuel cell vehicles powered by four different fuels, as the
company continues to investigate the best solutions to power the cars and
trucks of the future.
Fuel cells combine oxygen from the air and hydrogen from a fuel source to
produce electricity, which can be used to power electric motors and drive
automobiles. DaimlerChrysler and other automakers are exploring a variety of
fuels that can produce hydrogen onboard vehicles.
"The most important unresolved issue with fuel cell vehicles is not the
fuel cell, it's the fuel," said Thomas Moore, Vice President and head of
DaimlerChrysler's Liberty & Technical Affairs advanced technology development
group.
The vehicles were gathered together for the first time at
DaimlerChrysler's facility at the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a
collaboration of automotive and energy companies and government agencies that
is demonstrating and testing fuel cell vehicle technologies.
The vehicles shown were:
* Chrysler Town & Country Natrium, which is fueled with sodium boro-
hydride, a compound related to borax. The Natrium was introduced Wednesday at
the Electric Transportation Industry Conference here.
* NECAR 4 which operates on liquid hydrogen.
* NECAR 4a fueled by compressed gaseous hydrogen.
* NECAR 5 which operates on methanol. NECAR 5 is being shown for the
first time in North America.
The three NECAR vehicles are based on the Mercedes A-class passenger car.
In 1999, DaimlerChrysler also unveiled a luxury sport utility concept
vehicle called Jeep(R) Commander demonstrating gasoline-fueled fuel cell
engine technology.
DaimlerChrysler will market the first fuel cell city buses in 2002 and
fuel cell-powered passenger cars in 2004. To meet those ambitious goals,
DaimlerChrysler is investing more than $1.4 billion in fuel cell technology
research and development during the period 2001-2004.

 

DETROIT, Jan 8- The U.S. government has agreed to a program with major automakers to promote the development of hydrogen as an alternate fuel for cars and trucks, as part of efforts to reduce American dependence on foreign oil.
U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Monday he would announce the program on Wednesday with the heads of General Motors Corp. <GM.N>, Ford Motor Co. <F.N> and the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG <DCX.N> <DCXGn.DE>, who have gathered in Detroit this week for the industry's annual auto show.
Under the program, expected to be called "Freedom Car", the government will fund research into fuel cells, which use hydrogen to produce electricity without creating pollution as gasoline engines do.
"That would be a major achievement," said Thad Malesh, director of alternative power technologies practice with J.D. Power and Associates, an automotive industry consultancy. "Without their (government) involvement, it means the industry is out there blowing in the breeze."
The deal will also advance different ways of handling hydrogen and creating an infrastructure to make the fuel widely available.
Automakers have been spending billions of dollars on research to develop fuel cells as an eventual replacement for gasoline-powered combustion engines, which have powered cars for 100 years. But a big hurdle for the widespread adoption of fuel cell vehicles is the need for an infrastructure to make hydrogen more available -- a replacement for the gasoline station found along most roads.
"The more certain we are about the infrastructure, the more aggressive we can be about the cars. Bottom line -- (the government is a) huge force in what we're talking about," said Byron McCormick, GM's executive director for fuel-cell activities.
American drivers now burn about 370 million gallons of gasoline a day in passenger vehicles, which is projected to grow to 433 million gallons over the next decade if fuel economy does not improve, according to the U.S. government. Last year, passenger vehicle engines created 284 million metric tons of carbon dioxide gas, a major contributor to global warming.
Having more cars on the road that run on fuel cells would reduce gasoline consumption, which accounts for 44 percent of total U.S. demand for petroleum products. The cars should help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, which accounts for 60 percent of America's daily petroleum supply.
The "Freedom Car" program, focusing on fuel cells, will replace the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program, a multibillion-dollar research effort between automakers and the U.S. government that sought to develop an affordable gasoline-burning family sedan capable of getting 80 miles per gallon by 2004.
Automakers have succeeded in building a few highly fuel-efficient cars, but they would cost several thousand dollars more than comparably-priced vehicles if they went on sale, according to a government report.
The Bush administration proposed last year to slash the program's $141 million research budget within the Energy Department by $40 million, but Congress restored most of the funding.
The "Freedom Car" program comes as automakers fight tougher federal fuel economy requirements under consideration in Congress. Meanwhile, Japanese automakers have already begun selling high-mileage "hybrid" vehicles, which are powered by a small gasoline engine and an electric motor.
Environmentalists have pushed for higher mileage standards and wider uses of hybrid power, but many automakers contend the mileage standards do little to curb fuel consumption, and that hybrids are too expensive currently for mass production.
Studying future uses of hydrogen is "legitimate research, but it's a smokescreen," John DeCicco, a senior fellow with Environmental Defense. "It's using legitimate future research needs to hide the fact the Japanese have beaten the pants off them for delivering the goods to the marketplace."

 

Stuttgart, 04. Jun - Vier deutsche Autohersteller wollen in einem Pilotprojekt in Berlin die Tauglichkeit von Wasserstoff für den Antrieb von Autos im Alltag testen.

Die "Clean Energy Partnership" sei am Dienstag in Berlin mit einem gemeinsamen Absichtserklärung auf den Weg gebracht worden, teilten DaimlerChrysler<DCXGn.DE>, BMW<BMWG.DE>, Opel<GM.N>, Ford<F.N>, der Mineralölkonzern Aral und der Gas-Produzent Linde <LING.F>mit. "Wir brauchen einen Konsens über den Kraftstoff der Zukunft", sagte ein DaimlerChrysler-Sprecher in Stuttgart. Wenn sich die Hersteller nicht einig seien, sei die Industrie nicht bereit, ein Tankstellen-Netz aufzubauen. Wenn sich Wasserstoff nicht bewähre, könnten auch Methanol und synthetischer Diesel getestet werden.

Das 2003 anlaufende Projekt ist auf fünf Jahre angelegt. Es sei für weitere Partner offen, sagte der Sprecher. Bestandteil des von der Bundesregierung geförderten Projektes ist eine Wasserstoff-Tankstelle in Berlin und eine Testwagenflotte von 30 Autos. BMW und DaimlerChrysler haben jeweils Wasserstoff getriebene Antriebe entwickelt, verfolgen aber unterschiedliche Konzepte. Während DaimlerChrysler Brennstoffzellen favorisiert, treibt BMW einen gewöhnlichen Verbrennungsmotor mit dem Gas an. Der Stuttgarter Konzern hat nach eigenen Angaben eine Milliarde Euro in die Entwicklung der Brennstoffzelle gesteckt und will von 2004 an Busse und Personenwagen in kleinen Stückzahlen mit dem neuartigen Antrieb ausrüsten.

In der Branche gibt es allerdings noch Bedenken, unter anderem wegen des Transports und der Speicherung des explosiven Wasserstoffs. Ein vor gut zwei Jahren in Kalifornien ins Leben gerufener Brennstoffzellen-Versuch sei kürzlich von Wasserstoff auf Methanol umgestellt worden, sagte der Daimler-Sprecher.