NEW YORK — This summer, as 100 of the world’s finest, fastest and most fuel-hungry cars in the world congregated in Times Square for the Bullrun Rally, another unique vehicle made its debut.
Click here for photos of the hydrogen mod. Under the overcast skies, surrounded by slack-jawed tourists and visibly stunned Yankees, rumbled Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces and Porsches. One vehicle attracted stares and puzzled looks of non-recognition, even among some of the world’s rarest cars such as limited-run hand-built exotics like Panoz, Mosler and Spyker.
There, in the luxury rally’s menagerie of supercars, squatted a boxy, cumbersome Hummer H2.
It wasn’t horsepower, top speed or an intemperate thirst for petrol that set this Hummer apart. No, it was a length-long banner reading “Hydrogen” stretched across its side. The first of its kind to attempt a cross-country endurance rally — almost 3,700 miles in eight short days — the Hydrogen Hummer was prepped to make history. Cyclone Energy’s hybrid vehicle, built to operate on a mixture of normal petroleum augmented by a stream of hydrogen, would be the first hydrogen-abetted vehicle to attempt a super-rally.
In 2002, DaimlerChrysler’s Necar 5 set a distance record when it traversed 3,200 miles — from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. — in 15 days. But this test would be much more grueling, requiring much greater speeds over longer periods of stressful conditions.
“Good luck with it!” shouted Mario Andretti, who officially kicked off the Bullrun from the starting line in New York. Although upbeat, the iconic race driver sounded somewhat dubious of the vehicles chances of finishing the rally — which, by the way, it did.
“Well I think (hydrogen) is part of our future,” said Andretti. “Let’s face it, it’s important for all the right reasons — the ecology and the economy both. And the sooner that we start working with that technology the sooner well have it perfected, or at least much more efficient and desirable. Because these cars at the moment are not extremely exciting to drive, but maybe as they develop product, and put some steam into them, the real aficionados can start appreciating them. More than just Greenpeace fans, you know?”
Like an object approaching in your side-view mirror, road-ready hydrogen-powered cars are much closer than they appear. BMW made a big green splash last week when it announced the release of its hydrogen 750HL series, the world’s first hydrogen-powered luxury performance car. It will be available in March strictly for limo fleets, and the consumer model may start popping up in dealerships as early as 2008.
But why wait till then? For the truly adventurous, hydrogen is available now.
Currently, Cyclone’s hydrogen kits can be implemented on nearly any modern American vehicle. Large automakers like BMW are also doing their part to increase demand for hydrogen. Both options prove you dont have to sacrifice performance for tender carbon footprints. The Hydrogen 7, for instance, will have a 12-cylinder, 260 horsepower engine.
Once the consumer demand is established, Cyclone plans to push the conversion of standard filling stations to accommodate hydrogen. The company already has 12 gas stations in Southern California in development, and by late 2007 hopes to have switched at least one traditional petrol-filling tank in each station to hydrogen.
While the technology is in its nascent stages, the demand from eco-minded consumers is already robust. The idea now is to get financially motivated, non-environmentally leaning meat-and-potato Americans to see the benefits of the technology.
If you’re among those who believe in global warming and its likely causes, then Cyclone Energy’s vehicle is a definite step in the right direction. The major improvement achieved in the 3,700 mile test was a lowering of carbon dioxide emissions, which dropped between 25 and 35 percent, in comparison to a purely petrol Hummer H2.
In its cross-country expedition, that conserved approximately 1,333 pounds of CO2, the average amount generated from lighting a U.S. household for 8.5 months. Great reductions in hydrocarbon emissions (essentially unburned gasoline) were measured as well. When burning hydrogen, the hydrocarbon pollution dropped approximately 85 percent, from 6 particulates per million for a standard Hummer to 1 part per million.
But the technologys real benefits would be felt if applied to some of the Hummers thirstier exotic colleagues, such as a Ferrari 360 or Lamborghini Gallardo, which dumped 995 and 1,250 particulates per million, respectively, into the environment.
“My Hummer pollutes less than your Prius!” boasted a sticker splayed across its back window. Although the statement may not be entirely true, the vehicle definitely shamed its Bullrun competitors — at least in emissions.
Mounted with six 80-pound hydrogen tanks strapped into a cargo container on its rooftop, the tanks ran a high-pressure line straight into the H2s modified engine. Although you had to jump roofbound to switch the line from tank to tank, it was the hefting of the actual steel cylinders onto the rooftop container that proved the most cumbersome and time-consuming. Still, Cyclone VP and the driver of the Hydrogen Hummer, Brian Goldstein, insisted that these were bugs of a purely preliminary vehicle.
“We had to use standard commercial hydrogen tanks for the Bullrun because they’re readily available across the country, mostly from welding suppliers,” he stated while switching tanks mid-rally. “Our standard hydrogen conversion kits use more sophisticated carbon composite tanking for compressed hydrogen. We’re currently preparing a high-tech liquid hydrogen storage system, much like BMW’s, that will hold more fuel and increase consumer safety. It should be ready by mid 2007.
“Right now, we have to ration our hydrogen consumption because there simply doesn’t exist the infrastructure to supply it,” said Goldstein, his sweat-pocked brow gleaming in the 105 degree Kansas heat. “Our idea is to convert vehicles to run on this technology, and once we create the demand we can really push that infrastructure.”
