Hydrogen-powered car finishes its first cross-country journey

WASHINGTON -- A hydrogen-powered car completed a cross-country trip Tuesday, a first-of-its-kind journey that promoters say proves the cleaner-burning fuel can be a viable alternative to gasoline.

Fuel cell vehicles won't be mass produced for at least eight years under optimistic predictions, but DaimlerChrysler says the trip by its NECAR 5 vehicle shows the promise of fuel cell engines.

"I will not tell anybody how much doubt we had when we started 16 days ago," Ferdinand Panik, head of DaimlerChrysler's fuel cell group, said after the car pulled up at the Capitol at the end of its journey. "It runs much, much better than we believed. It's a big, big step for a new idea, trying to look beyond the capability of fossil fuels."

Fuel cells can run on hydrogen or other fuels, such as ethanol, methanol and gasoline, that can be converted into hydrogen. Hydrogen is combined with oxygen from the air in a chemical reaction that produces electricity that powers the vehicle.

Pure hydrogen-fed fuel cells produce only water -- no harmful emissions -- but hydrogen is a flammable gas that poses safety questions, especially when crashes occur, and engineers continue work on safe onboard storage systems. Those using other fuels pollute less than gasoline engines but have some emissions and produce less power than pure hydrogen.

The NECAR 5 -- "New Electric Car, Fifth Generation" -- is a subcompact Mercedes-Benz A-Class that ran on methanol converted to hydrogen.

Took 85 hours

The trip began on May 20 at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and spanned 3,262 miles, which DaimlerChrysler says is a record for a fuel cell vehicle traveling on public roads. Traveling time was 85 hours over a span of 16 days, an average of about 38 mph, but the car reached speeds of more than 90 mph.

Problems will keep the technology from reaching the mass market for at least a decade, experts say, including storage of hydrogen, reliability, durability and cost. The NECAR 5 is a concept car worth more than $1 million. Although costs are declining, the technology is far too expensive to sell for a profit.