Fuel Cell Technology is the keyThis is what the automakers have said. Now tell use what you say. 2-28-08 BMW betting on hydrogen Earlier this month, The Chronicle ran an interesting interview with General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, in which he said major car manufacturers need to develop a variety of alternative energy technologies in preparation for the day that world gets off the oil. The theory goes: Betting on just one -- electric cars or fuel cells -- would be too risky. That's not the party line over at BMW. The German car manufacturer told TED attendees in Monterey Thursday that they are betting the whole hog on hydrogen. "Water is the coal of the future," a big sign in the middle of the room read. It was a reference to the process of extracting the H from H2O, and then using it to power the same internal combustion engines we use today. Turns out BMW started its hydrogen program back in 1978, and as such, they have a ton of research on the topic. Lots of interesting factoids. For example, BMW believes: --The world will hit peak oil in 2025, marking the day the world reaches its peak petroleum production, declining thereafter until we run out. --Technology will allow us to mass-produce hydrogen, without burning fossil fuels to do so, in the next 10 to 15 years. --The cost of putting a hydrogen gas station on every 40 to 50 miles of U.S. roadwways would cost between $400 billion and $500 billion. --We will see the beginnings of hydrogen infrastructure, i.e., gas stations, by 2025. --We will switch over totally between the years 2040 and 2050. With those timeframes being pretty far out, it should be noted that BMW is developing hybrid models in the meantime. The first is expected out in 2009. But, in the long run, the Bavarians are betting their Euros on hydrogen 12-23-07 Tom Baloga, BMW of North America's vice president of engineering in the United States, predicted that some balance between hydrogen and batteries will replace gasoline. "We think the answer is hydrogen," Baloga said. Honda President 10-23-07 "We tried mass production three years ago of a battery vehicle, on which we made significant technological progress from a model 10 years ago," Fukui said. "Yet that level wasn't at all enough to realize a battery vehicle," he said. "That's why we're doing fuel cell." WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- U.S. officials and automotive industry leaders have agreed that hydrogen fuel is the long-term solution to reducing the country's oil dependence, but continue to debate whether the U.S. timeline for developing alternative fuels is aggressive enough. Achieving "technology readiness" will be more a preliminary than final success, said Byron McCormick, executive director of fuel cells activities for General Motors Corp, at the hearing. McCormick estimated that it would take about 20 years to sell enough cars to transition the entire U.S. fleet to hydrogen power. Hydrogen is the most versatile of all the alternative energies under research. Fossil fuels, biomass, nuclear energy and renewable energy such as solar power are all possible hydrogen sources. Substituting a hydrogen fuel cell for a car's internal combustion engine eliminates all the car's emissions, but water. This potential has pushed experts to sustain a focus on commercialization of hydrogen rather than on short-term solutions. "Hybrid vehicles won't get us there," McCormick said. "We look at the world and the pressures that will be there both environmentally and energy-wise, and we're going to need every pound of energy we can get. We've got to use it the most efficiently, and that inevitably means hydrogen fuel cells. What we want to do is get away from incrementalism." Ford’s Natkin 7-26-06 ” At Ford we still believe that fuel cells have the potential as being the ultimate clean and efficient powertrain." Ford’s Zanardelli We are convinced: The way into the hydrogen future is irreversible! "Hydrogen represents the promise for a better future for you and me," said Vance Zanardelli, Ford's manager of strategic powertrain technologies. "Hydrogen is the future." Daimler Chrysler 7-16-06 “For the long term, however, no drive concept offers greater potential on the road to sustainable mobility than fuel cells powered by pressurized hydrogen.” BMW If we want to maintain our present level of mobility, the long-term transition to hydrogen as a source of energy is an absolute necessity. This transition requires time – and that only makes it more important to start now. Our progress in the development of hydrogen engines makes us confident that the road to the market is a short one. The BMW Group will certainly make every effort to help hydrogen make a breakthrough as a source of energy and the hydrogen engine as the propulsion concept of the future. We are convinced: The way into the hydrogen future is irreversible! Nissan Carlos Ghosn, Nissan chief executive, commented: "The only breakthrough technology is fuel cell because this is the one that guarantees you are out of oil dependency,"