U.S. Department of Energy Awards California Hydrogen-Based Transportation Infrastructure Project to Comprehensive Team

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 27 -- A project team led by Air Products including automakers, an energy company, two California universities, and a public agency will work together to further demonstrate and validate advancements in hydrogen-based transportation infrastructure. This ambitious five-year program will be funded in part by a grant announced today by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), as part of its national Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project. The project team had submitted a request for a $91 million program.

The hydrogen infrastructure project team to work on this endeavor includes Air Products and automakers Toyota Motor Sales USA, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Nissan North America Inc., BMW, energy company ConocoPhillips, the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California at Irvine, the University of California at Davis, and the California South Coast Air Quality Management District.

"DOE should be applauded for initiating this far-reaching developmental project to sustain the world's energy supply," said Chris Sutton, vice president and general manager of Energy Industries at Air Products. "This is the first significant funding at the national level since President Bush's stated goal of supporting establishment of a hydrogen economy. On behalf of the entire project team, we are all excited about this opportunity to take a leadership role in the continuing development and commercialization of the global hydrogen economy. This is a step toward the goal of having key entities work together to solve important and critical issues and direct resources to gain real-world experience on fueling stations and feedback on vehicle infrastructure and hydrogen delivery technologies."

Working together, the project team plans to make substantial commitments to establish and demonstrate hydrogen infrastructure in California. Over the five-year program, up to 24 fueling station locations using multiple approaches to producing hydrogen and providing fueling infrastructure could be developed. These include a fueling station located on a pipeline, relocatable stations placed at existing retail gasoline stations including ConocoPhillips sites, as well as municipal locations. These fueling stations will be supported by hydrogen produced from both natural gas and renewable energy sources. Some of these stations will also have dual dispensing capability of gaseous and liquid hydrogen.

Toyota, Honda and Nissan plan to assign, collectively, up to 65 fuel cell vehicles to this project, and BMW plans to assign up to 15 hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine vehicles. The vehicles are to be driven by a broad range of drivers and interested parties including technical experts, policy makers, vehicle customers and fleet operators. The team's automakers are seeking no money or reimbursement for providing their vehicles to the program. Vehicle production and maintenance is included in the cost-sharing portion of the award total. The project team requested DOE funding of approximately $35 million of the overall award for hydrogen infrastructure activities and a public outreach program.

  Team members each commented on the DOE award announcement:

  Toyota -

"A true hydrogen economy is a long way off," said Jim Press, executive vice president and COO of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. "However, this project can help us address some of the many challenges we face in bringing hydrogen-based transportation closer to reality. At Toyota, we recognize that significant scientific breakthroughs are necessary. We've long believed that the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable hydrogen economy can only be achieved if business, government and education join forces and work as a team."

Honda -

"We look forward to working with our industry partners in this important program to further the development of fuel cell and hydrogen refueling technology," said Gunnar Lindstrom, senior manager of Alternative Fuel Programs for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "The Department of Energy is to be commended for bringing together industry and government to work on the common issues of air pollution and energy sustainability."

Nissan -

"Nissan's dedication to real improvement in the environment is deeply connected to its clean technologies such as fuel cell vehicles," said Jim Morton, senior vice president, Administration & Finance at Nissan. "Fuel cells hold the promise of high efficiency while creating zero emissions, making them the potential clean power source of the future. Furthermore, fuel source diversity to create hydrogen improves society's energy security. We believe this experimental project is an important exploratory step for the future development of this country's hydrogen infrastructure. We look forward to the mutual gains that the partners in this endeavor shall accomplish in the coming years."

BMW -

"The BMW Group has been engaged in the research and development of liquid hydrogen technology for over 20 years based on the belief that automobiles in the future will not be powered by fossil fuels as they are today," noted Karl- Heinz Ziwica, vice-president - Engineering U.S. for BMW of North America. "Our research has demonstrated that hydrogen is completely viable as a fuel and the technology exists to advance its use in vehicles with internal combustion engines or with fuel cells. However, the more challenging step to the realization of hydrogen-powered vehicles is the development of a supporting infrastructure of fueling stations and service facilities. This requires the cooperation of a significant group of partners and BMW is honored to be a part of the group brought together by the DOE."

ConocoPhillips -

"ConocoPhillips welcomes the opportunity to help evaluate hydrogen's potential as an energy carrier for automotive applications," said Ann Oglesby, manager of Emerging Technology at ConocoPhillips. "Many technology and economic hurdles remain, but this project will help us better understand hydrogen as one option for powering future cars and trucks."

***NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary materially, due to changes in current expectations.

For More Information on Air Products visit www.airproducts.com.

  For More Information on Toyota
visit www.toyota.com.
  For More Information on Nissan
visit www.nissanusa.com.
  For More Information on Honda
visit www.honda.com.
  For More Information on BMW visit www.bmwusa.com.

For more information on ConocoPhillips visit www.conocophillips.com.