Originally published July 26 2005
HRL Labs looks to replace hybrid cars with hydrogen fuel cell technology
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Hybrid cars are fast becoming America's way of dealing with soaring gas prices, but researchers at Malibu-based HRL Laboratories are looking to replace them by forging ahead with research into hydrogen fuel cell-powered engines, which could be on the market by 2010, reports Fuel Cell Works.
Behind the hydrogen-powered future is local Malibu-based HRL Laboratories, which is spearheading research on how to expand hydrogen fuel capacity in cars.
One of the main benefits of using pure hydrogen (usually obtained from decomposition of methane, and sometimes from water using electrolysis) as a power source is that it uses oxygen from the air to produce only water vapor as exhaust, helping to significantly reduce the source of atmospheric pollution.
While not a new concept-different variations of hydrogen-fuled vehicles have been in existence for decades and many high-speed race cars, submarines, buses and space rockets already run on hydrogen in various forms-it appears as if the technological development of the vehicle and rising consumer demand are on a collision course.
According to a late-May article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, during a recent speech to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit, Ballard Power Systems Chief Executive Dennis Campbell predicted that commercially viable fuel cells could be on the market by 2010.
Helping lead the development of the hydrogen car is HRL Laboratories, a Malibu-based research company that is investigating solid-state hydrogen storage.
For more than a half century, HRL has been at the forefront of research in fields such as microelectronics, phototonics, and information and system sciences.
"The Holy Grail has always been to make a solid-state sponge that would take up hydrogen and could release hydrogen," HRL lab director Leslie Momoda said.
"[Metal hydride storage] has the best shot at meeting the Department of Energy's specifications and requirements for fuel-celled vehicles," Momoda said.
The company has been affiliated with GM since 1985 and has been working on a variety of hydrogen-storage systems for seven years.
GM Vice President Larry Burns has said his company is committed to supplying market-ready, fuel-celled vehicles by 2010.
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