Methanol Fueling Station Opened in the USA by CaFCP

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 24 The very first methanol fueling station for fuel cell vehicles was put into operation today by the California Fuel Cell Partnership. It will supply the test vehicles operating on methanol in the area with liquid fuel.

This marks the beginning of the second stage of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, in which not only hydrogen but also liquid fuels are tested. With the NECAR 5, DaimlerChrysler will for the first time be entering a fuel cell vehicle running a on liquid fuel -- methanol -- in tests with the CaFCP. This is a technology in which DaimlerChrysler has adopted a pioneering role on a global scale.

Commenting on the opening of the methanol filling station in Sacramento, Dr. Ferdinand Panik, head of Fuel Cell Development at DaimlerChrysler explained, ``Methanol is a fuel with a future, capable of fulfilling the demands for sustainable and environmentally compatible mobility in the long term.''

In order to ensure the safe handling of methanol, a new refueling system exclusively permitting the filling of specific methanol tanks was developed in cooperation with Messrs. Identic and the Methanol Alliance (including partners BASF, BP, DaimlerChrysler, Methanex, Statoil and Ballard).

The final decision on the future fuel for fuel cell vehicles still remains open. The most technologically advanced method would be to use pure hydrogen in compressed or liquid form. DaimlerChrysler will present the first fuel cell vehicles from series production -- 30 Mercedes-Benz Citaro city buses -- at the end of 2002. The first passenger cars powered by fuel cells, Mercedes Benz A-Class models, will appear from 2004 onwards. These vehicles will be operating on compressed hydrogen. There are, however, still a few questions which need to be answered before hydrogen can be introduced on a broad scale. As well as technical details, these encompass environmentally compatible and above economically efficient production, distribution, handling and on-board storage.

For environment-friendly private transport, liquid fuel used as a hydrogen-carrying medium offers considerable advantages in terms of handling and range. This is where methanol suggests itself, from which hydrogen can be reformed comparatively easily for operating fuel cells on board a vehicle. As opposed to hydrogen, the existing fueling station infrastructure could continue to be used with specific modifications.

DaimlerChrysler first presented its methanol reformer technology with the launch of the NECAR 3 in 1997. The complete drive system was further improved and reduced in size with the NECAR 5. Both the fuel cells as well as the reformer system are accommodated in the sandwich floor of the A-Class, thereby leaving passenger and luggage space almost unaffected. In December 2001 the NECAR 5 undertook a record journey over 1,111 kilometers on public Californian roads, providing clear evidence of the propulsion system's stability and performance.

Direct methanol fuel cells, which are currently developed as substitutes for the accumulators in mobile equipment, also open up new perspectives for methanol. For the time being, this configuration permits comparatively low output ratings. Work is already underway, however, to achieve higher performance with this technology, i.e. the generation of electricity from methanol and oxygen directly, without the intermediate step of hydrogen production. The first research vehicle to feature this kind of technology was presented by DaimlerChrysler in 2000.

Methanol is an efficient and economical energy source that is nowadays produced from natural gas on a large scale, but which can also be generated from renewable energy sources such as biomass. Therefore, an almost balanced CO2 input/output ratio can be attained. Alongside hydrogen, methanol proves an important alternative in commercializing environmentally compatible drive systems such as fuel cells and reducing dependency on crude oil imports.