March 1, 2005

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version

CHINO, CA/HIROSHIMA, JAPAN - More hydrogen fueling stations on both sides of the Pacific:

Within a couple of days of each other, Korea’s Hyundai Motor Corp. and Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. announced in mid-February the opening of new hydrogen fueling stations. Hyundai, together with UTC Fuel Cells and ChevronTexaco, unveiled a hydrogen station at the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center in Chino, near Los Angeles as part of the U.S. Energy Department’s large Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration Validation Program (H&FCL May 04).

A Hyundai fuel cell Tucson pulls away from the new hydrogen fueling station, built by ChevronTexaco at Hyundai’s Chino Tech Center.

The limited-access station will provide 5,000 psi compressed gaseous hydrogen to a fleet of five Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage fuel cell vehicles based at the center. Other fleets will be tested at facilities operated by AC Transit, the Oakland-based transit agency, and at Southern California Edison during the 5-year program.

Racing legend Mario Andretti drove a fuel cell Tucson up to the hydrogen dispenser during the grand opening Feb. 18. ChevronTexaco Leads Project

The project is led by ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures which generates hydrogen on-site from natural gas via the company’s proprietary autothermal reforming technology. The station stores up to 100 kg of hydrogen - equal to roughly 100 gallons of gasoline in terms of energy content - on the site. The station can fuel two vehicles simultaneously in about 3-5 minutes each.

The station can also produce hydrogen from corn-based ethanol, according to a ChevronTexaco fact sheet. The energy company plans to build up to six hydrogen energy stations under the DoE program, most of them in California.

UTC Fuel Cells, of South Windsor, CT provides the proton exchange membranes that are at the heart of the 80 kW fuel cell power plant used in the Hyundai vehicles. Hyundai began cooperation with UTC Fuel Cells’ predecessor, International Fuel Cells, five years ago (H&FCL June 00).

In Japan, meanwhile, Mazda formally opened its own hydrogen fueling station at its main compound in eastern Hiroshima City, near company headquarters, the first such station in the Chugoku region of western Japan.

Mazda Station Fuels Up to 10 Vehicles/Day

Mazda’s new hydrogen fueling station, with dual-fuel rotary engine-powered RX-8 ready for refueling.

The facility provides hydrogen fuel both to the company’s hydrogen engine test facility and to Mazda’s rotary-engined RX-8, known as H2RE, dual-fuel vehicles, capable of operating either on hydrogen or gasoline (H&FCL Feb., Nov. 04).

Byproduct hydrogen gas, provided by an outside contractor, Tosoh Corp., Shunan City (Yamaguchi Prefecture), is bottled and delivered to the site by Japan’s industrial gas company Iwatani. It is stored on site at about 200 bar (2,900 psi) and is then pressurized further to 350 bar (5,000 psi) for delivery to the vehicles.

The station stores enough hydrogen to fuel up to 10 vehicles per day, the company said in its release.

Last October, Mazda received permission from Japan’s Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport to begin road-testing. The company hopes to sell hydrogen vehicles to public entities and corporations in Japan within two years.

Contacts/Sources: Hyundai (media), Kevin Oates, Ketchum, 310/584-8331, e-mail kevin.oates@ketchum.com; Mazda (media), www.media.mazda.com/news; Chris Keeffe, +81/82-282-5263, c@mazda.co.jp.