The Promise of Fuel Cell Vehicles (1996)
This is excerpted from the executive summary of the UCS report, Zeroing Out Pollution: The Promise of Fuel Cell Vehicles, May 1996.
A new technology—fuel cell vehicles—promises clean and efficient travel for the 21st century, and these cars and trucks could soon be on the roads of Asia, Europe, and the United States.
The mobility that motor vehicle travel has brought to millions over the past 100 years has also carried unfortunate side effects. One in four Americans now breathes unhealthy air, fossil fuel emissions are having a measurable effect on the Earth's climate, and oil imports are approaching their highest levels in US history. Fuel cell vehicles can help mitigate these problems through their high efficiency, zero emissions, and use of nonpetroleum fuels.
The Drive for Fuel Cells
Fuel cell vehicles have captured the attention of policymakers and environmentalists because this technology can achieve important energy and environmental goals. The interest that major automakers are showing in fuel cells, however, suggests that they believe fuel cell vehicles will also meet consumers' needs. Many of the major world automobile manufacturers have launched programs to develop fuel cell vehicles, and bus demonstration programs in Europe and the United States are currently illustrating the benefits of zero-polluting travel. At the same time, these vehicles must overcome important cost and infrastructure hurdles if they are to become a viable competitor to the conventional gasoline vehicle. Additional efforts at both the public and private levels are necessary to ensure that our society reaps the benefits of fuel cells.
The Promise
Clearing the air. The fuel cell vehicle of the future promises to be 98-100 percent cleaner than today's cars, offering major air-quality benefits to smog-choked regions of the country. In the dirtiest US cities, the economic value of zeroing out pollution with these vehicles could total $4,300-$8,300 per car over its lifetime.
Stabilizing the climate. Fuel cells have an important role to play in mitigating the growing impacts of global climate change. When running on renewable fuels, fuel cell vehicles reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases by 85-100 percent. Even when their fuels are produced from natural gas, fuel cells reduce these emissions by 60-70 percent. The widespread adoption of fuel cells would thus permit the United States to achieve national goals for reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases and virtually eliminate these emissions from the national fleet of autos and small trucks by the middle of the 21st century.
Saving oil. Widespread use of fuel cell vehicles would allow the United States to shift away from its overreliance on oil and tie our nation's energy future to domestic, clean, and renewable resources. By 2025, fuel cell vehicles can cut oil use from autos and small trucks by one-third, saving nearly twice as much oil as the United States currently imports from the Persian Gulf. By the middle of the 21st century, fuel cell vehicles could eliminate our nation's dependence on oil for personal driving.
Customer satisfaction. With fuel cell vehicles, consumers do not have to give up their expectations of vehicle performance and range in order to achieve great energy and environmental benefits. A mature vehicle powered by a fuel cell will be capable of traveling 250-400 miles before refueling, accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in less than 12 seconds, and achieve 70-80 miles per gallon. Mass-produced vehicles may ultimately cost about $1,000-$3,000 more than conventional cars, adding about 5-55 percent to the price of the average new car. But any higher cost that fuel cell vehicle owners experience up front may well be offset by lower costs over the life of the vehicle.
Fulfilling the Promise
Although fuel cells offer considerable promise for reducing the impacts of vehicle travel while simultaneously meeting consumers' expectations, the transition from gasoline-vehicle dominance cannot occur overnight. Capturing the benefits of this technology means stepping up development today to overcome the remaining technical, cost, and infrastructure hurdles. A combination of market strategies, public education, technology development, and regulatory policies can hasten the necessary shift to a clean-transportation future.
Cleaner cars are not the only answer to our society's transportation problems, but they are an important part of the solution. Many options are available for dealing with the challenges of air pollution, climate change, and energy dependence, but few alternatives appear to simultaneously meet both the social and the consumer demands of future transportation as well as fuel cell vehicles do. Achieving that future -- getting from here to there -- means starting down the right path today.
