Promotional (via MobyPost)
Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV’s) will likely be adopted first by organizations that depend on automotive transportation. La Poste, the French post office, is leading the way by joining the efforts of nine companies and institutes that are partaking in the European MobyPost Project. This endeavor will result in a prototype vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cell as well as a hydrogen generation plant. La Poste aims at cutting their CO2 emissions by 20% by 2015.
The MobyPost Project consists of two phases. The first will produce ten FCEV’s from which a final prototype will be selected. The second part is focused on building a hydrogen generation plant that will use renewable resources to produce the hydrogen needed to run 5 FCEV’s year round.
The final prototype will use safe, low-pressure metal hydride tanks for onboard hydrogen storage. Their autonomous range must be of at least 50 km with a speed of about 45 km/h. It will need to carry 100 kg of mail and incorporate an ergonomic design tailored for the physical task of making around 300 stops. This final prototype is expected to be available by the end of 2012.
The plant that will generate hydrogen fuel will also be completed this year. It will use a photovoltaic system connected to an electrolysis system to produce the hydrogen from sunlight. It will generate 1.5 kg of hydrogen for five vehicles year round. All excess hydrogen generated will be stored in low-pressure metal hydride tanks and can be uses as needed. This plant is being built in buildings owned by La Poste so all the energy production is local. These buildings are located in the Franche-Comte region in eastern France.
Testing of the hydrogen generation system as well as the prototype FCEV’s will take place at the same location. Once the project completion dates are known, fueling and operation classes will be organized for the postal workers. Monitoring devices in the cars and embedded in the hydrogen storage system will allow for dissemination of the projects results, which will be published so it can be used by other groups interested in pursuing similar projects.
The daily delivery of mail will surely supply the MobyPost Project with a lot of information on the efficiencies, safety and performance of fuel cell electric vehicles. It is projects like these that will undoubtedly pave the way for consumer hydrogen vehicles.
Cabe