Volvo enters fuel cell race

Volvo is joining the select group of manufacturers investigating hydrogen fuel cell technology to power cars in future. With support from the Swedish Energy Agency and a private firm, Powercell Sweden AB, Volvo will build two fuel-cell-powered prototypes for testing to commence from 2012. The C30 DRIVe will provide the platform and many of the energy-saving systems that will complement the fuel cell technology.

"This is an exciting expansion of our focus on electrification," Volvo Cars President and CEO, Stefan Jacoby, was quoted as saying in a press release. "Battery cost and size means that all-electric cars still have a relatively limited operating range.

"Fuel cells may be one way of extending the distance these cars can cover before they need to be recharged. What is more, the project gives us increased knowledge about fuel cells and hydrogen gas."

Fuel cells are at the leading edge of automotive technology and are already in limited-volume production for Honda's FCX Clarity, which the Carsales Network has driven.

Hydrogen is being promoted as the fuel of the future -- although how far in the future is always a good question to throw at manufacturers making this sort of claim. It's a temperamental gas that can readily find its way out of any receptacle and presents a problem in the little matter of manufacture too.

Creating pure hydrogen -- from water for instance -- requires more energy than it liberates when recombined with oxygen to form water. The energy has to come from somewhere to do that, which immediately limits the widespread commercial applications of the gas. Hydrogen can be produced on a commercial scale (and already is), but to do so the energy required is frequently generated by coal-burning power stations, defeating the whole purpose of a 'hydrogen economy'.

It's one reason why Jaguar's C-X75 concept uses gas-turbine engines to extend the range of the hybrid sports car, rather than a fuel cell.

Volvo has a different plan in mind, however. It's working on fuel-cell technology that will incorporate an on-board reformer, a device that will convert a fuel -- petrol, as it turns out -- into hydrogen.

What's the advantage to that, you may ask?

Petrol is available on every street corner, whereas pure hydrogen isn't. The fuel cell is a more efficient way of converting energy than a petrol engine and the reduction in CO2 emissions (along with the consequent reduction in fuel consumption) is way ahead of what a conventional petrol-fuelled piston engine can achieve today or in the future.

According to Volvo, the company's way of harnessing electrical energy from petrol, with the intervening step of conversion to hydrogen, produces far fewer CO2 particles and next to nothing in the way of nitrogen oxides or sulphur oxides.

Volvo also claims that the reformer can work with renewable fuels, such as ethanol. With the range-extending systems on board, the car's range gains up to 250km -- over and above the range possible on battery power alone.

The manufacturer is unwilling to go public with any talk of future production cars running this technology, but that's the end-game for any company investigating fuel cell technology.

"We have just taken the first steps and it is naturally too early to talk about market introduction of electric cars with Range Extenders. The industrial decision will come after we have learned more about fuel cells and the opportunities they offer," said Jacoby.

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