March 17, 2006
To Fuel Hydrogen-Powered Priuses
BURBANK -- The City of Burbank today dedicated Los Angeles County’s first
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.
“AQMD’s five cities project will help grow the hydrogen infrastructure
network and showcase innovative clean air vehicle technology,” said Cynthia
Verdugo-Peralta, AQMD Governing Board Member. “We are pleased the City of
Burbank is joining AQMD in this demonstration project.”
Burbank is one of five Southland cities partnering with AQMD to
demonstrate five hydrogen fueling stations and a total of 30 hybrid Priuses
with internal combustion engines that have been modified to burn gaseous
hydrogen. The other cities include Ontario, Riverside, Santa Ana and Santa
Monica.
“The opening of this hydrogen station is an important step taken to
achieve our goal of cleaner air in our basin,” said Jef Vander Borght, Mayor
of Burbank.
“We look forward to the day stations like this one become common place,
not only in Burbank but also throughout California.”
Each city and AQMD will operate five hydrogen-fueled Priuses for five
years. Although a small number of hydrogen stations now operate across the
country, primarily to refuel fuel cell vehicles, the five in Southern
California are the first in the nation based at cities and focused on
fueling internal combustion vehicle fleets, AQMD officials said. The
stations also will be able to refuel fuel cell vehicles.
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. City of
Burbank officials plan to use the five Priuses in everyday city fleet
driving as well as showcase them to community groups, neighborhood
associations and schools.
The total cost for the project is more than $7 million, including:
- A contract for $2.16 million awarded by AQMD to Quantum Fuel Systems
Technologies Worldwide, Inc. of Irvine to design, convert, test, certify
and maintain the hydrogen Priuses;
- Contracts for $3.9 million awarded by AQMD to Air Products and
Chemicals Inc., headquartered in Allentown, Penn., to install and
demonstrate hydrogen fueling stations at the five cities;
- Purchase of 30 Priuses, paid for by individual cities and AQMD, for
$750,000; and
- Preparation of cities’ fueling sites, paid for by cities and estimated
at a total of approximately $500,000.
In Burbank, Riverside and Santa Monica, hydrogen will be generated with
electrolyzer units that use electricity to separate hydrogen from water. In
Santa Ana and Ontario, Air Products is providing a mobile hydrogen fueling
trailer. All cities’ hydrogen fueling stations are now operational except
for Santa Monica, which is expected to be completed this spring. Each
station will be capable of filling 10 vehicles per day and in the future
could be expanded to fill up to 20 vehicles per day.
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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