Fuel-cell station opens in East Bay

It extracts hydrogen from water

Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, October 31, 2002

©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.

A hydrogen-powered car of the future moved closer to the present with the unveiling Wednesday of the Bay Area's first hydrogen fueling station in Richmond.

But officials said the opening of the $300,000 hydrogen pump, which resembles a large gasoline pump but produces hydrogen from water, was a significant step.

"Imagine a world filled with zero-emission vehicles and no pollution. . . . Imagine an America not dependent on foreign oil," said Contra Costa County Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier, a member of the California Air Resources Board. "This isn't a dream. This is a reality that's beginning here today."

While the public may have to wait for hydrogen fuel-cell cars, whose only exhaust is water vapor, automakers already are working to get the cars on the road as part of fleets. Los Angeles recently signed a deal with Honda for five fuel-cell cars.

Among the barriers to bringing fuel-cell cars to the market is the lack of infrastructure and the cost of producing the engines, now estimated at $30,000, compared to $3,000 for a regular internal combustion engine.

But the number of fueling stations is growing, as is the number of cars.

The fuel-cell partnership, a consortium of automakers, government agencies and others, expects to have 60 cars on California roads by the end of next year, said Don Huberts, chairman of its steering committee.

The Richmond fueling station, built by Toronto-based Stuart Energy, is the company's fifth in California, with the rest in Southern California.

E-mail Janine DeFao at jdefao@sfchronicle.com

©2002 San Francisco Chronicle. Page A - 17
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Source: [Nov 02, 2002]

By Norihiko Shirouzu, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

DETROIT -- Toyota Motor Corp. reaffirmed it aims to sell a total of 300, 000 super-efficient, electric-gasoline hybrid vehicles a year by 2005.

Toyota's reaffirmation came in response to a news report earlier this week that said the auto maker plans to use hybrid engines in all vehicles by 2012 to increase fuel efficiency and reduce tailpipe emissions. The report also said Toyota won't sell 300,000 hybrids annually until 2007.

Kevin Webber, a Toyota spokesman in Ann Arbor, Mich., said the report was " inaccurate," which he said stemmed from a "misinterpretation" of comments in Japanese made by a Toyota executive.

Mr. Webber said it is "technically infeasible" to use hybrid systems in all vehicles Toyota sells around the world in 10 years. He said Toyota continues to aim to sell 300,000 hybrids a year by about 2005.

Last month, Toyota's president Fujio Cho said the No. 1 Japanese auto maker will expand its lineup of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles into larger vehicles, such as midsized sport-utility vehicles and minivans, as it tries to sell a total of 300,000 hybrids a year by 2005.

Cho said Toyota "will expand hybrid systems into an array of models, including larger vehicles."

Already, Toyota recently has begun selling in Japan a hybrid minivan called the Estima. In the U.S., Toyota currently sells only one hybrid, the small Prius car, while in Japan its lineup includes the Prius and a Crown luxury car equipped with a so-called "mild" hybrid system, in addition to the Estima.

Source: Reuters [Nov 01, 2002] [EXCERPTS]

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Zap , a California maker of electric bikes and scooters, said on Thursday it had made a $10 million offer to buy Ford Motor Co.'s Think electric vehicle division, which the auto giant scrapped this year due to poor demand.

"Zap's prime business is the high technology -- the electric vehicle transportation business -- that is our only business," Gary Starr, Zap's chairman, told Reuters.

"There is demand for electric vehicles, but it doesn't seem that the conventional auto makers are making them available for sale. That is Zap's mission."

Zap, through its subsidiary Voltage Vehicles, has offered up to $10 million in cash, stock and warrants to purchase all of Ford's electric vehicle assets, including the Think City car program. The company, which trades in the over-the-counter market, did not detail how much of its bid was made in cash and how much in stock or warrants.

Ford paid $23 million in 1999 for the Norway-based electric vehicle company Pivco Industries, renaming it Think or TH!NK, and has since invested $100 million in the technology in response to environmental regulations on fuel economy and emissions.

In August, however, Ford announced it was pulling the plug on the Think program, saying disappointing sales and lack of government support for electric vehicle programs had reduced its viability in the mass market.

Ford said it would try to sell Think, or work with the Norwegian government to transform the company to create a viable business. Think has two facilities outside Oslo and employs about 150 people.

A Ford spokeswoman said Thursday the Think unit was still officially for sale, noting that the company would not comment on possible bids or deals that had not been finalized.

SCOOTERS, BIKES ... AND CARS?

Zap, founded in 1994 and based in Sebastopol, California, currently produces a range of electric scooters and bicycles and logs sales of about $8 million annually, Starr said.

He said the company was convinced that Think electric cars could be a valuable addition to its product line, and that the cars could find a market among environmentally conscious and technically savvy consumers.

"What we have found is that the people who have rented or leased the cars are very interested in purchasing those cars. In fact, the people who have leased the Ford cars have told us they all want to buy the cars."

The Think City, a two-seater
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New Electric Car Launch in New York

GEMs can be registered in New York State for operation on private property and public roads.

Source: PR Newswire [Oct 31, 2002] [excerpt]

NEW YORK, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- New Yorkers have a new, clean and efficient way to get around their neighborhoods and the state with the introduction of Global Electric Motorcars, LLC Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs).

The two- and four-passenger GEMs can be registered in New York State for operation on private property and public roads with speed limits up to 35 miles per hour. The five-horsepower GEMs, a federally approved low-speed vehicle (LSV), have a top speed, on road, of 25 miles per hour.

According to GEM President Ken Montler, GEMs are ideal alternatives to a full-size automobile for short trips, as

Smaller than a "normal" automobile, yet meeting safety requirements set by both the National Highway Safety Administration and New York with equipment like three-point seat belts, safety-glass windshield, wipers, headlights, turn signals, and mirrors, GEMs can maneuver into places cars cannot, yet still carry up to four people and their cargo.

Recharging a GEM can be done at any standard 110-Volt outlet, which means the 35-mile (approximate) range can be extended simply by plugging into an outlet each time the vehicle reaches a destination. "And GEM users generally travel less than 10 miles a day, so recharging is not an issue," said Montler.

Further information is available at htpp://www.gemcar.com .

Source: AP [Oct 31, 2002]

WASHINGTON (AP) - There are no technical problems that should prevent refiners from producing nearly sulfur-free diesel by 2006 when new requirements for the cleaner fuel go into effect, an advisory panel told the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday.

The cleaner fuel is critical to reducing pollution from large trucks whose exhausts are blamed by health experts for thousands of premature deaths and for adding to the frequency of respiratory ailments such as asthma.

The report by an independent review panel, whose members included both oil industry representatives and environmental advocates, concluded

there are no technological impediments'' to refineries reducing the amount of sulfur in diesel from the current 500 parts per million to 15 parts per million.

Despite some uncertainties in developing the new fuel for the market by mid-2006,

none of these uncertainties is considered insurmountable,'' the panel said.

It said the industry is well on its way to complying with the regulation, which was issued in early 2001, only weeks before the end of the Clinton administration.

Last year, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, while supporting the cleaner diesel rule, asked an independent panel to assess any technological barriers to compliance.

The cleaner diesel fuel is viewed as essential to reducing tailpipe emission from large trucks and buses because the current sulfur content prevents pollution control equipment from working properly. The EPA estimates that by 2007, truck exhausts will account for one-fifth of the microscopic soot and 30 percent of the smog-causing chemicals coming from all motor vehicles.

The oil industry has argued that while refiners can dramatically cut sulfur levels in diesel, the 15 parts per million standard would cause problems in distribution and possibly lead to fuel shortages.

Ed Murphy, a vice president at the American Petroleum Institute, the large oil companies' trade group, said the industry would not seek to postpone the diesel requirement. But he said the EPA has to work with the industry to address

potentially significant'' problems in getting the cleaner diesel to markets and avoiding possible shortages.

The oil industry said it plans to press for more flexibility in the requirement and expansion of a credit trading system that would ease the burden on some refiners, as well as address problems with fuel contamination during transit and other distribution issues.

The report by the Clean Diesel Independent Review Panel acknowledged that it did not attempt to address fuel distribution or supply issues, but focused only on technological issues facing refiners in developing the nearly sulfur-free diesel fuel.

The EPA plans a series of workshops on distribution issues.

Panelist William Becker, who represents state air pollution control officials, said the findings demonstrate that the oil industry is well on it way to complying with the low-sulfur fuel regulation.

It shows there are no technological show stoppers,'' said Becker, executive director of the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators.
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Hybrids: Not Just for Environmentalists Any More?

Hybrid electric vehicles don’t have to be high-mileage snoozers built solely to satisfy government mandates and cater to the environmentalist fringe movement.
Source: [Oct 30, 2002] by David E. Zoia

DETROIT – Hybrid electric vehicles don’t have to be high-mileage snoozers built solely to satisfy government mandates and cater to the environmentalist fringe movement.

HEVs can be fast, agile – and fun.

So says Ford Motor Co. engineer Anthony Grabowski, who ticks off ways to put more emotion into HEVs and broaden their appeal to more mainstream consumers.

"There are some common misconceptions about HEVs," he says during a panel on making cars functional and fun to drive at Convergence 2002. "And a lot of them have to do with people thinking they can’t be fun to drive and enjoyable to own."

Government mandates to increase fuel economy and reduce emissions are not mutually exclusive to providing buyers with vehicles that are quicker out of the blocks and more agile on the road, he says.

In parallel systems where the electric motor is used to augment drive provided by an internal combustion (IC) engine, HEVs can generate superior off-the-line acceleration, Grabowski notes.

As evidence, he sites two separate Ford hybrid test vehicles in which roughly twice the torque is generated when both electric and IC power is used at takeoff than with the IC engine alone.

And because of the power boost provided by the electric motor, there’s the opportunity for less frequent shifting of gears by the driver, he says.

Incorporating electric power steering also can provide better handling – and these systems can be tuned almost infinitely toward performance or comfort through simple tweaks to the software, Grabowski says. Electric steering also helps hike fuel economy 2% to 3%, he adds.

Use of regenerative braking improves stopping power and, incorporated with brake-by-wire, provides a better pedal for the driver, he says. These systems also can be integrated with other vehicle dynamics technology such as electronic stability systems.

Putting the electric motor at the axle not driven by the IC engine also can provide all-wheel drive, while cutting weight and inertia by eliminating the power takeoff unit and prop shaft needed in conventional AWD systems, says Grabowski.

Challenges remain, he admits. Chief among them, the difficulty in packaging additional components needed for hybrid systems, the tooling of those parts and the inherent cost of it all.

But if consumers are ever going to be convinced to pay the tab, auto makers will have to make the HEV a more feature-laden, performance-oriented proposition, Grabowski says.

"That may be the most important (thing)," he says. "We’ll never be able to drive all the cost out. The way (to sell HEVs) is to make the vehicles as fun to drive as possible."

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Source: PR Newswire [Oct 29, 2002]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- A new government report highlights the potential for clean diesel to help meet the nation's growing energy and environmental demands, according to the Diesel Technology Forum. In their annual fuel economy rankings for the new model year to be released tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency find that four of the top ten most fuel-efficient vehicles are diesel-powered.

"Every year, this report brings much needed attention to the energy efficiency of diesel technology," said Allen Schaeffer, the Forum's executive director. "These rankings underscore the role advanced clean diesel cars, trucks and SUVs could play in improving U.S. fuel economy and energy security."

Diesel-powered passenger vehicles range from 20 to 40 percent more fuel- efficient than similar sized gas-powered vehicles. Some diesel cars in Europe can attain up to 78 miles per gallon, thanks in part to developments in diesel fuel injection systems. Today's diesels have also made tremendous advances in exhaust controls and after-treatment technology leading to lower emissions.

"Aside from their superior fuel efficiency, state-of-the-art diesel vehicles are clean, quiet and fun to drive," continued Schaeffer. "Even the chairman of the California Air Resources Board -- one of the most aggressive environmental regulatory agencies in the world -- now sees clean diesel playing a leading role in meeting the state's long-term energy and environmental goals."

According to a recent study, advanced clean diesel engines already account for about one-third of all vehicles in Europe. In some European countries, diesel cars have over 50 percent of the total market share and upwards of 60 percent of new car sales. The report -- "Demand for Diesels: The European Experience" -- is available for download on http://www.dieselforum.org .

Gradually increasing Americans' use of currently available clean diesel technologies in cars, trucks and SUVs to levels seen today in Europe would reduce net crude oil imports by 350,000 barrels per day by 2020, according to the DOE.

The Diesel Technology Forum brings together the diesel industry, the broad diesel user community, civic and public interest leaders, government regulators, academics, scientists, the petroleum refining industry, and public health researchers, to encourage the exchange of information, ideas, scientific findings, and points-of-view related to current and future use of the new advanced clean diesel power technology.
http://www.salon.com/news/col/huff/2002/10/29/suv_ad/index.html

More on the SUV ad fund

We've lined up a producer and director -- and now you can contribute online!

By Arianna Huffington

Oct. 29, 2002 | We've had an overwhelming response to the suggestion in my column that we mount a citizens' ad campaign aimed at getting people to stop driving SUVs and other gas-guzzling vehicles -- and jolting our leaders into taking action.

It's been a busy and productive week. Lawrence Bender, producer of "Pulp Fiction" and "Good Will Hunting," and director Scott Burns, co-creator of the "Got Milk?" ad campaign, have agreed to donate their services to make these ads a reality through A Band Apart, Bender's production company. To get these ads on the air we are establishing a nonprofit fund for the sole purpose of creating them.

Many of you have asked where you can contribute. The Natural Resources Defense Council was kind enough to take donations for an interim period, but now that we've got our independent fund up and running, please send your donations to:

SUV Ad Fund/A Band Apart 7966 Beverly Blvd. 2nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90048

If you would prefer to make your contribution online using PayPal, please use this link.

Thank you so much for taking a stand.

About the writer

Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of eight books. Her most recent, "How to Overthrow the Government," was published in 2000 by Regan Books (HarperCollins).

ARIANNA ONLINE 1158 26th Street, P.O. Box 428 Santa Monica, CA 90403
arianna@ariannaonline.com
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An ad George Bush should love

"I helped blow up a Bali nightclub -- by driving my SUV to work every day!"

By Arianna Huffington

Oct. 22, 2002 | The Bush team's ridiculous and wildly inflammatory anti-drug ads are still running in heavy rotation. You know the ads I'm talking about -- the ones where innocent-looking, middle-class teens admit their culpability for the consequences of the drug trade. "I helped blow up buildings," says one doe-eyed youth.

So if that is legitimate logic, and our president says that it is, I wonder if we might turn the tables on him by starting a little ad campaign of our own to sabotage another misguided Bush campaign: the War on Conservation.

The thought occurred to me after the startling announcement that the administration was taking precious time off from an actual, necessary war -- the one on terrorism -- to sue the state of California for daring to require that carmakers put more energy-efficient models on the road.

Turning the letter of the federal Clean Air Act against its clear intent, Department of Justice lawyers lined up on behalf of the administration's friends in the hydrocarbon-loving auto-manufacturing industry and argued that as long as California's cars are in compliance with the lax federal standard, the state cannot impose a tougher one. For those keeping score, the Bush administration is in favor of states' rights when the states want to weaken federal safety standards of any kind, and against states' rights when the states want stronger measures.

So how about using the same shock-value tactics the administration uses in the drug war to confront the public with the ultimate -- and much more linearly linked -- consequences of their energy wastefulness? Imagine a soccer mom in a Ford Excursion (11 mpg city, 15 mpg highway) saying, "I'm building a nuclear bomb for Saddam Hussein." Or a mob of solo drivers toodling down the freeway at 75 mph shouting in unison, "We're buying weapons that will kill American soldiers, Marines and sailors! Yahoo!"

It's not just a fantasy. Last week, talking to my friend Scott Burns, co-creator of the "Got Milk?" campaign, I was delighted to hear that he already had two ad scripts ready to go. The first one feels like an old Slim Fast commercial. Instead of "I lost 50 pounds in two weeks" the ad cuts to different people in their SUVs: "I gassed 40,000 Kurds," "I helped hijack an airplane," "I helped blow up a nightclub," and then in unison: "We did it all by driving to work in our SUVs."

The second, which opens on a man at a gas station, features a cute kid's voice-over throughout: "This is George." Then we see a close-up of a gas pump. "This is the gas George buys for his car." Next we see a guy in a suit. "This is the oil company executive who makes money on the gas George buys." Close-up on al-Qaida training film footage: "This is the terrorist organization supported by money from the country where the oil company does business." It's followed by footage of 9/11: "We all know what this is." And it closes on a wide shot of bumper-to-bumper traffic: "The biggest weapon of mass destruction is parked in your driveway." Pretty effective.

Can the administration seriously deny that oil dollars do, actually, finance a spreading slick of evil in the world today? In Iraq, oil money has kept Saddam's repressive regime afloat even in the midst of tough U.N. sanctions. According to a report just released by the CIA, Saddam has been spending his oil money on conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction, while starving and torturing his own people.

In Saudi Arabia, our second largest foreign supplier of oil, the money you spend at the pump over here pays for a feudal monarchy that gorges itself on excess while bankrolling terrorist mischief abroad with its support of suicide bombers.

Even our close ally Kuwait, our 11th largest oil supplier, manifests an ambivalence toward America that, if you accept the Bush administration's drug-war arguments about the validity of remote effects, resulted in this month's assassination of an American Marine on military exercises. Thank you, Exxon.

Would it be so painful for us to slow down the intravenous drip of oil that keeps these hideously anti-American regimes alive? There are car companies with electric and hybrid cars already on the market. And a little pressure on our wasteful ways could unleash a new wave of good old American inventiveness.

But instead of applying the marketing skills it uses for its wrongheaded drug war to the eminently worthwhile cause of saving energy, Bush Inc. has sided with the Enrons of the world to stifle energy-saving technology and keep America in an artificially prolonged state of dependence.

Of course, waiting for the Bush administration to get religion on energy conservation would be about as fruitful as waiting for Saddam to welcome U.S. inspectors to his palaces. It ain't gonna happen. Unless, that is, the public makes it happen. Anyone willing to pay for a people's ad campaign to jolt our leaders into reality?
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