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Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in times of the Crisis
How do countries and industry cope with the problems?
What is the effect of the current economical crisis on hydrogen and fuel cell technology? A great part of it is still in the development phase, with profits not at hand, and public funds play an important role. How strict is the rule of the red pencil?
After a survey over the quite diverse sectors of the field we can conclude with some satisfaction that while hydrogen and fuel cells are by no means exempt from the symptoms of the crisis, they are as a whole less affected than conventional business. The findings of DWV are thus in line with those of other environment or energy associations which also say that future oriented technology and business fields suffer less than the conventional ones.
Industry
This is even true for the car industry which bears the main impact of the crises. Just one week after General Motors declared bankruptcy in the USA a new automotive battery laboratory started operation into which some 25 M$ were invested. Work in the German development centre near Mainz is running according to plan. Daimler still says that the first serial B class cars with fuel cell will be ready before the end of this year. Similar statements can be made for Volkswagen and Ford as well as for BMW (combustion engines). The Asian car makers follow their course with equal steadiness. Toyota keeps announcing that the market introduction of serial cars is planned for 2015, at the same time as Daimler. They all know: if they have a future it will be based on the products of tomorrow, not those of yesterday.
The stationary and portable application of fuel cells suffers even less. As far as large installations (200 kW upward) are concerned MTU Onsite Energy started a new molten carbonate cell of the HotModule type early this month in a brewery near Munich and received another order from a hospital in Hesse; the enlargement of the product palette is making progress. The number of orders for small stationary systems of the 5 kW class (supply of homes, emergency power) is in the five digit region. A steep rise of production figures can be expected from 2011 onward. SFC Smart Fuel Cells received in April an order for more than 200 portable fuel cells from Volkswagen; the cells will be fitted into vehicles used as mobile offices by authorities. During the last four years SFC sold already more than 13.000 fully commercialized fuel cells to industrial and individual customers.
Politics
The dominant feature of the political situation is that most current funding programs run over a long term. This is true for the National Innovation Program Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in Germany (running until 2016) as well as for the Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen of the European Union (running at least until 2013). Neither the formation of a new government in Germany in September nor the formation of a new Commission in Brussels is expected to have a great effect on these programs. Japan, Korea and the other Asian countries are known for long term programs anyway which are followed with great continuity.
Not quite clear is what will happen in the USA under president Obama's new Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. While the change in the White House had little effect on the funding of hydrogen and fuel cells in stationary applications Chu deleted the 100 M$ funding for mobile hydrogen in the plans for the next fiscal completely. The money released here is to be used for battery and hybrid cars. This is to be not so much a crisis symptom but rather a political change of direction. Mr. Chu apparently is not aware of just how close hydrogen and fuel cell cars, including those of US companies, are to the market and how far the battery car of comparable performance is still away from it. The National Hydrogen Association, the US Fuel Cell Council and other bodies like these are trying to spread this insight in DoE and Congress. But even after such short-sighted cuts the federation and the states of the USA would still be funding the field with an amount roughly equal to that spent in the whole European Union. It should be noted that the US car companies and important states like California, New York, and South Carolina do not follow Mr. Chu’s tracks.
We must make our society fit for the future. Looking ahead, getting a clear picture about the challenges, and selecting appropriate ideas and concepts are of paramount importance in critical situations as we are having them now. Sustainable energy is a key topic for environment and economy. Those who try to preserve the existing system by all means may easily disappear. We can emerge from the crisis stronger than we were before when we make the right decisions precisely now.
Published by the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (DWV), Berlin
Editor: Dr. Ulrich Schmidtchen, Berlin
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