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Daimler and Ford Motor are partnering on a privately held company to develop automotive fuel cell technology, both companies announced Thursday.

The companies plan to buy the automotive fuel cell business unit of Ballard Power Systems, a British Columbia-based supplier of hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles. From that asset, they plan to start a private company, according to a joint statement.

Daimler will own a 50.1 percent share of the new company, Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (AFCC), the companies said. Ford Motor will own a 30 percent share, and 19.9 percent will be owned by Ballard.

AFCC will consist of about 150 employees and specialize in developing fuel cells for cars and buses. Ballard on its own will continue to concentrate on nonautomotive fuel cell applications.

The new company will allow Daimler to "go full steam ahead in our preparations for the series production of fuel cell cars," according to Daimler.

"The fuel cell remains one of the most viable solutions to develop a sustainable, zero-emissions vehicle. The creation of the Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation is an investment in our future," Gerhard Schmidt, Ford's vice president of research and advanced engineering, said in a statement.

In October, Daimler invested in Choren Industries, a company that specializes in renewable-fuel technologies.

Boeing's HALE (high altitude long endurance) unmanned aircraft runs on hydrogen fuel.

(Credit: Boeing)

Boeing is reporting progress in simulation tests of its HALE (high altitude long endurance) aircraft, an unmanned plane that runs on hydrogen.

While it has not yet gone aloft, the propeller-driven HALE aircraft was able to run for a total of three days in a chamber that simulated flight at 65,000 feet. The eventual goal is to get it to fly for more than a week at a time with a one-ton payload.

The turbocharged hydrogen combustion engine, which was developed by Ford Motor, managed to maintained proper torque control while getting better than expected fuel usage, according to Boeing. Boeing was particularly impressed with the aircraft's endurance, according to a company statement this week.

The gasoline version of the engine is used in the Ford Fusion and Ford Escape hybrid vehicles, according to the automaker.

The HALE aircraft is a drone that could be used as a tool for border patrol, communication, telecommunications, general surveillance, battlefield intelligence gathering, reconnaissance missions, and port security.

UAVs are a hot field for development and actual use these days as an economical alternative to manned aircraft. The Pentagon is especially drawn to them: Just last month, the Air Force began flying the Reaper UAV--a bigger, more heavily armed version of the Predator--on missions in Afghanistan. The aircraft have civilian uses, too: NASA has its own (unarmed) version of the Predator, called Ikhana, that is being used to monitor fires in California.

Successful testing of the Boeing HALE aircraft could help convince people that hydrogen power is a viable option for aircraft, Boeing said.

Chevy Equinox fuel cell vehicle

(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)

Chevrolet is in the midst of launching "Project Driveway," an ambitious program where more than 100 fuel cell electric vehicles will be put in the hands of select consumers for the largest market test ever of its kind.

Fuel cell power train

(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)

Testing will take place over the next several months in the Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., metro areas. Drivers range from average consumers to business owners to policy makers. Chevy reps also promise that some cars will go into the hands of "celebrities," but no names have been dropped yet.

The cars are modified Chevy Equinox crossover SUVs that draw hydrogen from three on-board, carbon fiber tanks to power an electric motor. In addition, a nickel-metal hydride battery pack captures and stores energy from a regenerative braking system to provide extra power when needed. The fuel cell Equinoxes get a range of about 150 miles on a single fill-up with 700-bar hydrogen.

The Equinox fuel cell cars run solely on hydrogen, which, at this point in time, is a drawback for the average consumer. Although we produce 40 billion kilograms of hydrogen globally every year--enough to power 130 million fuel cell-powered cars--hydrogen fueling stations are still scarce.

Interior display

(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)

The three test metro areas were chosen, in part, because drivers have access to hydrogen filling stations within a reasonable radius of their homes and/or places of business. General Motors reps say building a hydrogen fueling station infrastructure wouldn't be as difficult as some might think; they say the initial investment of about $10 billion to $15 billion required to put 12,000 stations within two miles of the top 100 urban areas is close to the amount of money being currently spent on maintaining existing oil pipelines and gasoline manufacturing equipment.

The specs for the vehicle aren't overwhelming--it goes zero to 60 in 12 seconds and has a top speed of about 100 miles per hour. But that's still impressive considering the only thing that comes out of the quad exhaust is water vapor.

Carbon fiber quad exhaust

(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)

Features include antilock brakes (ABS), driver and passenger front air bags, roof rail side-impact air bags, and StabiliTrak stability system. The cars are also equipped with the OnStar navigation system, which testers are encouraged to use to ask questions and provide feedback as they drive.

But don't get in line at the local Chevy dealership just yet; the test fleet won't be available for sale to the public. However, the information gleaned from this market test will help shape the next generation of fuel cell vehicles, which GM is working on now.

For a further look at the Equinox vehicles, see "Photos: GM's Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell."

Ecotality is lending its hydrogen technology expertise to a municipal electricity project that aims to squeeze natural gas from coal without emitting carbon dioxide.

The company is partnering with the Arizona Public Service public utility company, which received $8.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for its Advanced Hydrogasification Project (AHP), according to Ecotality.

Hydrogasification is a process in which natural gas is made from coal without releasing the pollutant carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

For the AHP project, Ecotality will contribute its so-called Hydrality technology, a process it developed in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory that produces hydrogen from magnesium pellets and water, with water as the only byproduct. The company has previously used the Hydrality process as an inboard source of power for hydrogen-powered vehicles.

In this case, the Hydrality process will be examined to figure out reactor and storage dynamics for large-scale hydrogen production. The hydrogen will be used in a high-temperature and high-pressure reaction with coal to produce methane.

Ecotality has been expanding its interests beyond hydrogen fuel and electricity. In September, the company purchased Innergy, a San Diego, Calif.-based company that makes mobile solar power technology, and in June it bought the fuel cell retailer Fuel Cell Store.

(Credit: AeroVironment)

The U.S. Special Operations Command is going green with its purchase of a hydrogen-fueled robo-plane that can loiter in the stratosphere for up to five days at a time.

The high-altitude long endurance (HALE) Global Observer will cost $57 million for the first drone, with two more in the pipeline for an additional $108 million. The drone, or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), is powered by a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine designed and built by AeroVironment, which has already successfully tested a scaled down model during a five-day stretch in an altitude chamber above a simulated 65,000 feet.

The UAS's role will be to provide communications relay and remote sensing, including HDTV video and third-generation mobile voice, video and data using off-the-shelf technology, according to the manufacturer. The unit is expected to be deployed in two years, contingent on continued government funding.

The Global Observer, with its "persistent, global, stratospheric loitering capability" (PDF), will mean one more "eye in the sky" over Godforsakenstan, but applications are not limited to defense. Homeland security, storm tracking, weather monitoring, wildfire detection, mapping, environmental monitoring and crop management (got to keep an eye on those poppies) are some of the other potential applications.

Hubbard, Ohio-based NanoLogix, which specializes in industrial microbes, said today that it has coaxed microorganisms to create hydrogen, which in turn was used to generate electricity.

The hydrogen powered a 5.5-kilowatt generator. The generator powered multiple strings of 100-watt bulbs. Hydrogen doesn't power generators directly. Hydrogen is fed into a fuel cell, which strips away electrons that get ultimately fed into an electrical appliance.

The hydrogen is harvested from sugars in wastewater, according to the company. The company gets it from a Welch's jelly plant nearby in Erie, Pa. The process was devised in part by Harry Diz, department chair and professor of environmental engineering at Gannon University and the developer of the NanoLogix bioreactor. The company did not provide specifics on how much sugar and wastewater is needed, what conditions are required to metabolize the sugar, what species of microbes were used, or whether Nutella would have the same effect. Still, an interesting achievement.

NanoLogix also develops products for the medical community and national security.

Microbes, those disease-spreading pests that Mr. Clean was made to kill, are one of the emerging stars in the energy field. Microbes essentially take sugars or other matter and convert them into alcohol, methane, semiconductor materials and other useful products. Microbes are basically little chemical factories or employees, but without dental plans or severance packages.

NanoLogix says it's the first time that the company knows of someone harvesting electricity from microbes and using it on site. While that may be the case, others have been tinkering with exploiting microorganisms for hydrogen. James Swartz at Stanford University has isolated a microbe that uses energy from the sun to split water molecules and create hydrogen. With this technique, raw materials like sugar aren't needed. Unfortunately, in their natural state, the microbes get killed by oxygen, so Stanford researchers are trying to see if they can genetically insulate them from the effects of oxygen.

A company called Fundamental Applied Biology has been formed around Swartz's research.

A pest approach to hydrogen could take out of of the major objections to hydrogen: the costly, energy-intensive process for making it.

DAVIS, Calif.--What is a flow battery? It's a battery with tanks of electrolytes that effectively lets the battery store more energy than normal batteries. The electrolyte flows or circulates through the system. The larger the tanks, the more electricity it can store.

"They are cheaply made out of plastic. They are low maintenance," said Rick Winter, an executive at Deeya Energy, which makes flow batteries. The company has been busy this summer setting up manufacturing facilities in India, CEO Saroj Sahu told News.com a few weeks ago.

Flow batteries won't appear in watches or MP3 players any day soon. They are too big, Winter explained.The batteries are for bulk energy storage and will serve as backup or emergency power sources. Nonetheless, it's a somewhat large market. Flow batteries will compete against things like industrial fuel cells. In Silicon Valley, there's been a lot of whispering about the concept in the past year. Until recently, Deeya's Web site was rather cryptic.

"A flow battery starts with a few kilowatts and goes up from there," he said. "There is no way you could use a flow battery for a phone."

Winter said that there are about five or six companies out there. Each one has a different twist on the chemistry; some are using vanadium, some are using zinc.

Investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Nokia's venture arm.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy research lab, has come up with a new formula for hydrogen pellets that looks like it holds a lot of energy, per gram.

The PNNL pellet is made out of ammonia borane, or AB, compressed into small pellets. A milliliter of AB weighs about 0.75 grams and can hold up to 1.8 liters of hydrogen. Researchers speculated that a fuel system powered by AB pellets will occupy less space and be lighter in weight than systems using pressurized hydrogen gas. That's one of the pellets (and not a half-dissolved Jawbreaker) in the photo.

Pellets anyone?

(Credit: PNNL)

A number of companies are working on solid hydrogen storage. Storing hydrogen in pipelines and tanks is problematic. Because it's a tiny molecule, hydrogen in its gas form can leak out of containers. It also corrodes many materials. A solid material, however, can fix hydrogen with chemical bonds until it needs to be released. It also prevents explosions (although the Hindenburg zeppelin fire was caused by the aircraft's paint.)

Ecotality has created a system that stores hydrogen in magnesium oxide. Add water and you get hydrogen. SignaChem has one that revolves around sodium. Trulite is working on a portable hydrogen storage system that stores the gas in sodium borohydride.

Hydrogen, of course, has many critics. Hydrogen can be expensive to make and manufacturing it can release more pollutants in some circumstances than burning gasoline. But proponents note that it's plentiful in the universe. It can also come in handy in various applications. Some have theorized that hydrogen factories, powered by ocean-wave plants, could be built far out at sea. The hydrogen could then be brought to shore in ships stocked with solid-state storage.

In other words, hydrogen may not take over the world, but it could make sense in a lot of places. Toyota and others are still working on hydrogen cars. (See video of me driving a hydrogen car . That thing romped.)

Some of the difficulties involve devising ways to get the hydrogen to release from its carrier at a steady, predictable rate, the cost of the solid-state carriers, and their weight.

Scientists at Vanderbilt University have adapted a miniaturized rocket motor from space to power a stronger, faster prosthetic arm here on Earth.

Actually, the power is generated by what amounts to an advanced steam engine. It contains hydrogen peroxide and a catalyst that causes it to burn at 450 fahrenheit, producing steam. NASA uses the same principle to scoot the space shuttle around in orbit.

(Credit: Vanderbilt University)

It's "roughly the size of a pencil" and provides enough energy to operate the prosthetic for up to 18 hours. The prototype arm also weighs less because the motor eliminates the need for heavy batteries, a drawback for most models now available.

The arm's wrist can twist and bend naturally, while its fingers and thumb open and close independently--giving it an "arm up" on conventional "clawed" prosthetics, the Vanderbilt team says. It can also curl up to 25 pounds and is four times faster than other arms on the market, according to preliminary testing.

The steam operates a series of valves that are connected to the spring-loaded arm joints by monofilament belts. Fine tuning has eliminated the clicking and hissing, but the steam generated still causes it to drip. That's no problem--the moisture generated is roughly the same amount that a human arm would sweat naturally on a warm day, according to Vanderbilt Professor of Mechanical Engineering Michael Goldfarb. The bad news is that it won't be available for a couple of years, and even that schedule is still contingent on funding and FDA approval.

The project is part of a $30 million Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) program to develop advanced prosthetic devices. Two other universities are also competing. Watch Vanderbilt's cool videos here.