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Iceland Takes Next Step with H2 Rental Cars, Fuel Cell APU for Tourist Ship

REYKJAVIK, June 20 - Iceland, the New Frontier for the coming global hydrogen economy, is about to launch another First:

Hydrogen rental cars.

Pending the outcome of pre-launch testing this fall of a small fleet of Toyota Hybrid Priuses converted to hydrogen, Icelandic New Energy (INE) is planning to make these cars available via Hertz Rent A Car in Iceland, mainly for tourists, starting next April as part of a new multi-million dollar demonstration program.

Implementation of the new effort, SMART-H2 (Sustainable Marine and Road Transport - Hydrogen in Iceland), is getting under way next month, Iceland New Energy’s general manager Jón Björn Skúlason told H&FCL by e-mail. In addition to hydrogen car rentals, another feature is the conversion of a 150-passenger whale watching ship to auxiliary fuel cell power for the onboard electricity supply.

The projects represent the next step in Iceland’s long-range plan to convert to a full hydrogen economy by 2050 that began in 1999 with the formation of INE, followed by launching the EU-funded ECTOS city bus project in 2001 which included construction of the world’s first hydrogen station in 2003. That station has delivered more than 20 tons of hydrogen so far, mostly for three Mercedes-Benz fuel cell buses that operated until last December, the end of the trial program (H&FCL June 98, March 99, April 00, May 03).

(A full version of this report will appear in the upcoming July issue of “The Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter”)

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