Hydrogen-powered vehicles roll into Chattanooga

Energy-efficient vehicles powered by hydrogen rolled into Chattanooga Monday as part of the national Hydrogen Road Tour, and with them came the possibility that more may be produced locally.

“It’s very likely (that we’ll) produce some components overseas, but it’s possible the cars could be produced here, and the fuel will be produced here in the U.S. if it’s hydrogen,” said John Tillman, program manager for Volkswagen Group of America’s Advanced Powertrain Research Program.

VW, which is building an auto assembly plant in Chattanooga, has a hydrogen-powered version of its new Tiguan compact sport utility vehicle in the planning stages. It could be seven to 10 years before the company produces what it calls the HyMotion Tiguan, Mr. Tillman said.

Representatives of major automakers stopped in Chattanooga to showcase different models of hydrogen-powered vehicles as part of a two-week tour of 31 cities in 18 states. Hydrogen vehicles from BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen made the journey. Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and Linde Group are providing hydrogen fuel on the trip.

“This is an attempt to make the public more aware of hydrogen as an alternative fuel for future transportation,” said Dr. Ronald Bailey, Guerry professor of engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Fuel-cell vehicles are electric vehicles that use hydrogen to generate electricity, explained Matthew Forrest, project engineer with Mercedes-Benz.

During a presentation in the Tennessee Pavilion, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said hydrogen “is a piece of the future, and alternative fuels are the bridge to the future.”

“We know we can no longer be competitive in the world and lead the world in a fossil-driven economy,” he said. “We have to get off of oil; we have to get off of petroleum; we have to look at the alternatives. We have to move our energy sources in a cleaner direction.”

About 300 community members attended the event and most signed up to drive or ride in one of the vehicles, said Chuck Cantrell, spokesman for UTC, which hosted the event.

Ooltewah resident Sam Johns said his experience driving one of the cars was so smooth, he wanted to take one home.

“You didn’t have engine noise,” he said. “I can see there’s great potential in the U.S. for these cars once we can get the infrastructure to fuel the vehicle up.”

A stumbling block right now, however, is that there are only about 60 hydrogen fueling stations in the United States, Mr. Tillman said. Most of them are in California, and only two are public, he said.

“We wanted to highlight that the cars can be driven every single day, but what we need is the infrastructure,” he said. “We just don’t have it.”

Dr. Bailey said there are plans to have two fueling stations in Tennessee, one in Chattanooga and the other one in Knoxville.

The tour began Aug. 11 in Maine and will end Saturday in Los Angeles. The hydrogen-powered cars have driven 1,400 miles so far and have exceeded expectations, said Catherine Dunwoody, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership.

“When we get to California, these cars will drive a combined total of about 24,000 miles across the country, using an entirely domestically produced fuel and that’s hydrogen,” she said. “Along the way, we’ll create zero tailpipe emissions, zero air pollutants and be about twice as efficient as gasoline vehicles.”

Automaker representatives said that when hydrogen-powered cars hit the market they expect the price will be competitive with those of other hybrids and gasoline cars.