Why hydrogen?
Fuel cell vehicles burn hydrogen to create electricity, which powers the vehicles while producing vastly reduced carbon dioxide emissions and an increase in efficiency compared to gasoline.
Published 2008-08-12 03:12
Hydrogen-fueled pitstop
Clean, efficient cars on cross-country promotion come to Mass.
A coast-to-coast campaign designed to raise awareness of the hydrogen and fuel cell industry in cars hit Massachusetts yesterday, with the landmark opening of a filling station in Billerica among the highlights.
Vehicles from nine manufacturers are part of a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored tour that will stop in 17 states and cover 24,000 miles, all on the strength of clean and efficient hydrogen.
Five of the vehicles swept in from Maine on the first day of the tour yesterday, filling up at the state’s first hydrogen filling station in Billerica before showcasing their models in Cambridge.
“A lot of us in Massachusetts have California envy,” said Brad Bradshaw, president of the Massachusetts Hydrogen Coalition, Inc., referring to the Commonwealth’s infancy in a program that has taken serious root in the Golden State. “We’d like to get there.”
At the crux of the expansion issue is the lack of filling stations. The opening of Billerica’s Nuvera Fuel Cells signals what Bradshaw called a “tilting of the scale” toward the East, and the excitement on the faces of several visitors to the Volpe Center in Kendall Square yesterday indicates acceptance is not far off.
Some nine million tons of hydrogen is produced in the U.S. annually, enough to power 34 million cars, officials said. Ryan Harty of Honda’s FCX Clarity team said there are far too few filling stations for the industry to expand nationwide yet, but 60 new ones are proposed.