WASHINGTON (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler AG unveiled an environmentally fri=endly compact car Wednesday that turns hydrogen gas into electricity and =leaves just a stream of water vapor for exhaust.But don't expect to be able to buy anything like it until 2004 whenthe company hopes it has brought down production costs andencouraged the distribution of suitable fuels.
The NECAR 4, driven onto the stage of a Washington pressconference by DaimlerChrysler's two top executives, solves manyof the weight and space problems of previous prototypes.
Based on the Mercedes A-Class small car, the five-seater NECAR4 can travel 280 miles before refueling. Its NECAR 3 predecessorunveiled in 1997 could carry only two people 250 miles because amass of plumbing took over the back seat.
DaimlerChrysler co-chairman Juergen Schrempp told reporters therace to demonstrate the technical viability of fuel cell vehicles wasover. "Now we begin the race to make them affordable," he said.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner attended theunveiling and said it was an exciting technology that could reducepollution and dependence on imported oil.
"We look forward to the day when this car is available to any whowant to do their part for a cleaner environment," Browner said.
The combination of hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity wasdiscovered in 1839 but its first significant use came as a powersource in the U.S. space program.
Interest in fuel cells to power vehicles has grown as emissionstandards have tightened and battery-powered vehicles struggle toget the range consumers demand.
DaimlerChrysler is developing part of its fuel cell technologythrough a partnership with Ballard Power Systems Inc., a Canadianfirm that is also involved with U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co.
Other automakers are also developing fuel cell-powered vehicles,including the world's No. 1 automaker General Motors Corp., andJapan's No. 1 automaker Toyota Motor Corp.
Prior to merging with Chrysler last November, Daimler-Benzembarked on its fuel cell program in 1994 with NECAR 1, a largedelivery van that had the entire cargo area taken up with tanks andpipes -- a laboratory on wheels the company admits.
That was followed by NECAR 2 in 1996, a passenger van that hidmuch of the equipment behind a rooftop fairing.
The technology has shrunk to the point where in NECAR 4 the fuelcell system is under the floor.
"Fuel cells give you the range of conventional gasoline engines andemission benefits of electrical vehicles," said project leaderFerdinand Panik.
But as exciting as the concept is, DaimlerChrysler knows it hasobstacles to overcome.
"The high cost of alternate fuels relative to gasoline, the lack of afueling infrastructure out there, are two of the significant hurdles,"said co-chairman Robert Eaton.
NECAR 4 as shown Wednesday uses liquid hydrogen stored in aninsulated tank but DaimlerChrysler's own numbers show that wouldbe the most expensive fuel.
More likely fuel cell cars would use methanol or a super-cleanversion of gasoline as the source of hydrogen using an onboardreformer.
NECAR 3 used methanol but that route does produce carbondioxide, a greenhouse gas implicated in global warming.
Panik told reporters that converting 30 percent of all gasolinestations in California, New York and Massachusetts for alternativefuels would cost $1.4 billion for hydrogen, $400 million for methanoland $200 million for new formula gasoline.
Schrempp himself cautioned that the company was continuing toexplore even cleaner versions of gasoline and diesel engines. "Thebreakthroughs that we have made in the last five to 10 yearsnobody would have believed."
Asked how a fuel cell-powered vehicle would perform onGermany's famous high-speed autobahns, Schrempp replied: "Thecar will behave as a typical Mercedes behaves -- it will be safe andwill be fast." =
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