Mazda Builds Hydrogen-Powered RX-8 for Norway
Mazda has built an RX-8 Hydrogen RE with Norwegian specifications for Norway’s HyNor project. The project establishes a hydrogen filling infrastructure along a 360-mile stretch of highway between Oslo and Stravenger.
The hydrogen-fueled RX-8 will be unveiled to the public on May 11 in Oslo, Norway during the opening ceremonies of the HyNor filling stations.
Click through the gallery above to view the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE, or scroll down for the press release from Mazda.
HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation today announced that it has built the first Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE vehicle with Norwegian specifications, developed specifically for participation in HyNor, Norway’s national hydrogen project. The first unit will take part in ceremonies marking the official opening of HyNor’s hydrogen filling stations. The initial opening ceremony will be held in Oslo on May 11, 2009. The RX-8 Hydrogen RE will then undergo certification to meet local standards and will be used for maintenance staff training. Mazda plans to commence leasing of Norwegian specification RX-8 Hydrogen RE models in Norway in summer 2009.
Unlike the RX-8 Hydrogen RE currently being leased in Japan, the HyNor-specification Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE is based on the latest European-specification Mazda RX-8 with left-hand drive and a manual transmission.
The HyNor project aims to enable hydrogen vehicles to travel along a 580-kilometer stretch of highway by establishing a chain of hydrogen stations between Stavanger and Oslo in Norway. Mazda agreed to collaborate with HyNor on the project in November 2007 and began validation of the RX-8 Hydrogen RE’s driving performance on Norwegian public roads in October 2008.
History of Mazda’s hydrogen vehicle development
1991 Developed first hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, HR-X
1992 Conducted test drive of golf cart equipped with fuel cell
1993 Developed second hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, HR-X2
Developed MX-5 test vehicle equipped with hydrogen rotary engine
1995 Conducted Japan’s first public road tests of a hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, Capella Cargo
1997 Developed Demio FC-EV
2001 Developed Premacy FC-EV, conducted first public road test in Japan
2003 Announced RX-8 Hydrogen RE prototype
2004 Received MLIT approval for public road testing of RX-8 Hydrogen RE
2006 Started commercial leasing of RX-8 Hydrogen RE in Japan (eight models have been delivered to date)
2007 Signed agreement to provide RX-8 Hydrogen REs to Hynor, a Norwegian national project
2008 Commenced public road tests in Norway with RX-8 Hydrogen RE validation vehicle
2009 Commenced commercial leasing of Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid in Japan
Produced the first Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE with Norwegian specifications
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Comments
chartguy
Hydrogen is more of a battery than a fuel. You consume electricity to electrolyze hydrogen from seawater. So, how did you create the electricity? If it was nuclear or hydroelectric, and you had the extra capacity, then you did not generate more CO2. In most countries, the marginal electric supply will be coal-fired. That's certainly true here in the US. So, even if your hydrogen was generated by a nuclear plant, the electricity that was used is not available to another customer, and will be replaced by coal-fired electricity.
KARL
Hi Chartguy, I saw a special a while back about norways hydrogen project. They are using solar at the stations to produce the hydrogen. It never said anything about useing nuclear power to suppliment the process. The major power was from solar! Later
chartguy
Hi Karl,
If Norway is producing hydrogen with solar power, that would be very interesting. The first question would be what kind of solar? Photovoltaic or solar concentration for heat? Photovoltaic solar cells have gotten lots of friendly press, but have not turned out to be very efficient. The initial energy cost to produce them is massive. Some studies say that it takes half as much electric energy as they will produce in their lifetimes, just to make a solar cell. When Obama gave a speech at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to introduce the stimulus bill, he highlighted the PV solar panels that they had installed. Various studies have been run, and it's not clear if the cost savings in electricity will EVER pay for those panels. Part of the problem is that they degrade over time. Most manufacturers only guarantee that they'll operate at 25% of original efficiency in 25 years.
In other words, PV solar is not yet an efficient way to generate electricity. The huge energy cost to produce the panels means it's not even an environmentally friendly way to produce electricity.
What I'm trying to say is that hydrogen is not a source of energy (like crude oil, or natural gas). Hydrogen is a way to store energy that must be produced by some other means. So, the car may be considered "clean" in isolation, but operating it requires electricity, and that is rarely clean.
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steve_c
By the way, the town name you are thinking of, at one end of the stretch that has refuelling, is "Stavanger." I was there yesterday - it's one of Norway's oil towns now, and is a nice place to visit if you get the chance. See google maps http://tiny.pl/z2hc for one possible route.
Toffe
This is actually interesting news from several points of view. The Japanese, and Mazda in particular, have less of conspiracy theory agenda's about killing the alternative energy car by making such crappy electric cars that only few people want to buy them. Hydrogen economy is going to to come one day and the Norwegians are ensuring a place in it (once their oil reserves run out in the next few decades). How the energy stored in hydrogen is generated is important environmental consideration, but a rather separate problem. Norway has plenty of hydro power (rivers), which is had to use in cars without for example hydrogen fuel cells.
Chartguy, I don't see what relevance your comment has to the actual news. I gather than you are an environmentally conscious person, who likes electric cars or staying at home. This is great and hybrids and plugin electrics are all fine and available today. This doesn't mean that there is space to develop the next generation.
chartguy
I tried to explain in my comment to Karl, but here goes:
Hydrogen has a reputation as being enviromentally friendly. I think a lot of that reputation is smoke and mirrors.
Because hydrogen must be produced by consuming electricity (electrolysis), fueling a car with hydrogen consumes electricity. It is indirect, in that the plant that produces the hydrogen consumes the electricity, but you don't get the hydrogen without using the electricity.
Norway has a lot of hydroelectric and solar plants, so people say it would be environmentally friendly to use hydrogen in Norway. What that ignores is that hydrogen production is additional consumption of electricity. Norway buys and sells excess capacity. More cars running on hydrogen means more electricity will be consumed in Norway, and less will be available for export. That means a coal-fired plant in the Ruhr Valley of Germany may run a bit longer because a car in Norway is being fueled with hydrogen.
In other words, hydrogen stores the energy that is produced elsewhere. Since only a minimal amount of electricty is used in the production of a gallon of gas (or diesel), that's additional electrical consumption. What source wil be used to produce that additional electricity? If it you want it to be clean (and that seems to be a big goal of those who produce these vehicles), there are not many alternatives.
Nuclear energy provides about 77% of the electricity produced in France, and would seem like one, logical alternative. Unfortunately, people get hysterical about disposing of nuclear waste.
Which brings us back to the question: Where does the electricity come from? Today, the reality is that marginal consumption is likely coming from coal-fired plants.
M. A. G.
Solar panel efficiency is often misused just like automotive gear ratios are.
A .72% overdrive trans is Irrelevant if it is used with a disadvantageous final drive gear ratio that takes away the advantage.
Also, a non-overdrive, AKA direct drive, trans can overtake the advantage of an overdrive trans ratio with a taller final drive ratio that exceeds the % of overdrive offered in the transmission.
A .72 OD and a 4.11 rear ends is an overall ratio of 2.96
A 1.0 DD and a 2.79 rear ends is an overall ratio of 2.79
The argument of solar panel efficiency as a reason to use as an example of Hydrogen efficiency is the same.
It does not matter if it takes 100 SQ FT, 1000 SQ FT or 10,000 SQ FT of solar panels to produce enough Hydrogen to power your car for the day, the fact is that you are replacing the petroleum hydrocarbons that we are trashing the earth with, and that is the main point.
Not to mention hydrogen storage and transportation issues.
What I could use right now is an affordable electric car right (affordable as in less than $30,000 and priced like the cheap economy cars!) , and a range of 75 to 100 miles would be just fine!
FlashBack
Hydrogen is only a fuel cell. Consuming electricity to electrolyze hydrogen from seawater. So how electricity is created? If it is nuclear or hydroelectric power, and has additional capacity, then you do not generate more CO2. In most countries, the marginal electricity is coal. That is true here in the U.S.. Therefore, even if the hydrogen generated by a nuclear plant, electricity being used is not available for another client, and will be replaced by coal-fired electricity. plot-movie.com
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