Introduction to the U.S. Department of Energy’s ControlledHydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and ValidationProject

摘要

Early in 2003, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated the “Controlled Hydrogen Fleet andrnInfrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project” solicitation. The purpose of this project is tornexamine the impact and performance of fuel cell vehicles and the requisite hydrogen infrastructure in realworldrnapplications. The integrated nature of the project enables DOE to work with industry to test,rndemonstrate, and validate optimal system solutions. Information learned from the vehicles andrninfrastructure will be fed back into DOE’s R&D program to guide and refocus future research as needed,rnmaking this project truly a “learning demonstration.”rnThe first of the Cooperative Agreements between DOE and the industry teams was signed in the fall ofrn2004, and vehicles are now being introduced at the same time as hydrogen refueling stations are beingrninstalled. Estimated government investment in this activity will be around $190 million, coupled withrnsignificant cost share from industry for a planned total of around $400 million. This paper describes thernteams involved in the project, the general geographic locations of the hydrogen refueling infrastructure tornbe installed, and the makeup of the initial fleets to be put into operation for data collection. The type ofrndata to be collected from the infrastructure and vehicles is explained, and the nature of the analyses madernpossible from the data is explored in a generic way.rnThese collaborative projects with industry will continue for five years, over which multiple generations ofrntechnology will be tested as lessons are learned from the initial fleet. Technical performance from thisrnproject (at its conclusion and intermediate steps along the way) will ultimately be compared againstrnDOE’s 2009 technical targets such as a 250-mile range, 2000-hour fuel cell stack durability per vehicle,rnand a hydrogen production cost of $3.00 per gallon of gasoline equivalent (gge) untaxed, when producedrnin quantity.