March 2004

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DIAMOND BAR, CA - If all goes according to plan, almost three dozen Toyota Prius hybrid cars will be converted to hydrogen and will be cruising Los Angeles Basin roads some time within two years.

The staff of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) late last month recommended to the District's technical committee spending about $2.5 million, plus a possible additional $500,000 from the Defense Department, to convert 35 internal combustion-powered Prius cars to this fuel within one year after a contract has been signed.

The staff also recommended picking Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Irvine, CA, described as "the established world leader in the design, development, manufacturing and commercialization of gaseous fuel management systems and alternative fueled vehicles," as the contractor.

Texaco Ovonic Hydrogen Systems is also a partner in the proposed project, according to the staff recommendations.

Full Board is Likely to Approve
The proposal will be presented to the District's Board at its March 5 meeting It's regarded as almost certain that the board will approve the project, in line with its basic decision last summer when it approved a Request for Proposals for both a fleet of hydrogen-powered internal combustion-engined cars and corresponding fueling stations for five cities within the South Coast Air Basin (H&FCL Aug. 03). The plan envisions sufficient funding to have these cars operate for five years.

Under this RFP, three proposals were received for the car conversion plan and nine proposals for the construction of the fueling stations. Action on the fueling stations is being delayed for now, and a separate request for funding these stations will be sent to the Board later.

According to the recommendation, made available to H&FCL immediately after the Feb. 27 meeting, AQMD's staff recommended spending $2.280 million to convert 30 vehicles, increasing slightly to $2.5 million if the Defense Department's National Automotive Center (DOD-NAC) agrees to provide another $0.5 million in co-funding for an additional 5 vehicles. The cities of Burbank, Ontario, Riverside, Santa Ana and Santa Monica have agreed to participate.

The basic rationale, according to this document, is that "hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are near-zero emission vehicles but currently have limited availability, high costs, and short warranty periods. Hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles show promise as a bridge technology between fuel cell vehicles and conventional vehicles and have the potential to significantly reduce VOC, Nox, CO and air toxic emissions. Furthermore, hydrogen-fueled ICE vehicles will utilize the developing hydrogen infrastructure initiated by the AQMD and help to expedite the expansion of hydrogen infrastructure across the South Coast Basin."

In the evaluation of the three competitors - Quantum; ETEC, Phoenix, AZ; and ISE Research, San Diego, CA - Quantum scored highest overall.

Quantum Previously Converted a Prius to H2
In discussing Quantum, the staff document said that Quantum last year built a hydrogen-fueled 2002 Prius, equipped with compressed hydrogen and metal hydride storage systems, apparently the same vehicle that Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) showed last year at the IPHE meeting in Washington, DC (H&FCL Dec. 03). Texaco Ovonic Hydrogen Systems is a joint venture between ECD and ChevronTexaco Corp. and these companies have worked previously with DOD-NAC.

One interesting bit of previously unpublicized news: Quantum last year produced a fuel cell- powered All Terrain Vehicle which, according to this document at least, "is currently in production for the U.S. Army." Contact: AQMD media office, Sam Atwood, 909/ 396-3687