| June 15, 2006
To Fuel Hydrogen-Powered Priuses
SANTA MONICA—The City of Santa Monica today dedicated the region’s fifth
municipal hydrogen fueling station along with five hydrogen-powered Priuses
to help hasten the day when its residents and those throughout the region
can drive virtually zero-emission vehicles.
“The opening of this station is an important milestone in our transition
away from a fossil fuel-based economy, and marks the beginning of a new era
for the City’s goals for sustainability,” said Santa Monica Mayor Bob
Holbrook.
The Santa Monica station generates hydrogen on-site with an electrolyzer
that uses electricity to separate oxygen and hydrogen from water. The city’s
electricity is provided by a “green” mix of renewable power.
“Santa Monica is one of an elite group of five Southern California cities
placing themselves ahead of the curve in meeting future energy needs and
cleaner air standards,” said Jan Perry, AQMD Governing Board Member. “These
vehicles drive and perform like regular gasoline cars and yet they emit no
global warming gases and meet the state’s strictest standard for
smog-forming pollutants.”
The electrolyzer is capable of producing up to 12 kilograms of hydrogen
fuel per day – more than enough to fuel the five internal combustion
hydrogen Prius hybrids, which will be driven for a variety of city uses.
Santa Monica’s hydrogen generation and fueling station is considered
clean and renewable because the city uses “green” power for all its
municipal electricity needs from sources such as wind, biomass and
geothermal.
Santa Monica is the fifth and final Southland city to open a hydrogen
station in a demonstration program with AQMD. The other cities
participating are Burbank, Ontario, Riverside and Santa Ana. For the next
five years, each city and AQMD will operate the Priuses, which have been
specially modified to burn gaseous hydrogen.
The hydrogen-fueled, internal-combustion engine vehicles are considered a
near-term bridge to longer-term future technologies including fuel cell
vehicles, which emit only water vapor. Near-zero emission vehicles
including those powered by fuel cells are considered a key strategy to clean
up smog in Southern California, which has some of the most severely polluted
air in the nation.
The five cities program is aimed at stimulating demand for hydrogen
fueling, accelerating the expansion of the region’s hydrogen fueling
network, and educating the public on hydrogen-fueled vehicles.
The total cost for the project is more than $7 million, including:
- A contract awarded by AQMD to Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies
Worldwide, Inc. of Irvine to design, convert, test, certify and maintain
the hydrogen Priuses;
- Contracts awarded by AQMD to Air Products and Chemicals Inc.,
headquartered in Allentown, Penn., to design, install and demonstrate
hydrogen fueling stations at the five cities and provide continuing
maintenance services. As part of the Santa Monica station, Air Products
contracted with Proton Energy Systems Inc. of Wallingford, Conn., to
supply the station’s electrolyzer;
- Purchase of 30 Priuses, paid for by individual cities and AQMD; and
- Preparation of cities’ fueling sites, paid for by cities.
Each hydrogen-fueled Prius has a compressed-gas fuel cylinder that holds
up to 1.6 kilograms of hydrogen, giving the vehicles a range of up to 80
miles per fill. (One kilogram of hydrogen is roughly equivalent to the
energy content of one gallon of gasoline.)
The Priuses meet the state of California’s strict Super Ultra Low
Emission Vehicle standard for smog-forming nitrogen oxides, and unlike their
gasoline-fueled counterparts, they have no carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide
or hydrocarbon emissions.
The five cities’ hydrogen fueling sites add to a growing network of
hydrogen stations in the Southland. Three other stations -- at AQMD
headquarters in Diamond Bar, LAX and Sunline Transit Agency in Thousand
Palms -- now are operational. An additional two stations, at UC Irvine and
in Torrance, are expected to be completed by the end of the year. All 10
stations will provide hydrogen for fuel cell and internal combustion engine
vehicles.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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