Fuel Cells for Transportation: Technical Feasibility and Economic Impacts
May 8, 1994 / By Daniel Flaming, Mark Drayse, John M. Lee, Fuel Cell Engineering, Marshall Miller, Uc Davis Institute Of Transportation Studies And Union Of Concerned Scientists, David L. Rigby,UCLA Lewis Center For Regional Policy Studies and David Swan, Uc Davis Institute Of Transportation Studies / the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Fuel cells are a feasible power system technology for future transit vehicles. The advantages of fuel cells include high efficiency and extremely low vehicle emissions. Progress in fuel cell technology is moving rapidly with limited commercialization expected in this decade. Transit vehicles are a logical first application of fuel cells in transportation. Fundamental to the application of fuel cells to transit is the choice of boarded fuel. Hydrogen and methanol are the favored fuels to store on the vehicle with methanol being converted into a hydrogen rich gas on-board the vehicle. Hydrogen simplifies the fuel cell power plant at the expense of the refueling facility. Methanol simplifies the refueling facility at the expense of the vehicle fuel cell system. Depending on the vehicle mission, range and payload advantages for each fuel can be shown. The total direct and indirect employment created per $1 Billion of demand for fuel cells is 15,157 jobs. Approximately 77% of this employment is found in the manufacturing sector.
