Green fuel cell technology showcased in Vancouver

At the Hydrogen + Fuel Cell Conference, people were able to look inside high-tech hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles and even test drive them.

Step aside, hybrid and electric cars – hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles could be the way of the future.

The Hydrogen + Fuel Cells 2013 conference, an international exhibition on technologically advanced vehicles began Sunday at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Industry leaders will be showcasing new innovations until Wednesday.

Newly-appointed B.C. Environment Minister, Mary Polak addressed the delegates this morning about expanding the province’s green technology base.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to work with you… to make sure it’s a strong industry in B.C. We know it’s going to contribute to a strong economy and a strong tomorrow,” she said.

B.C. was already recognized for implementing the world’s largest fuel cell bus fleet in Whistler in 2009, but plans to create more opportunities for green transportation.

Hyundai, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz brought in hydrogen-powered vehicles that Canadians could one day own. Some conference-goers test-drove them to get a taste for the future.

Hyundai and Toyota hope to have their hydrogen-powered vehicles on the market by 2015, and Mercedes-Benz plans to release theirs in 2017.

Hydrogen-powered fuel vehicles are fuelled when hydrogen is pumped into their tanks, like gasoline. The hydrogen is then fed into the fuel cell where it is converted to electricity. The hydrogen can be harnessed from all kinds of renewable energy including hydro, solar, wind, and capturing waste hydrogen.

Communities could one day harness their own hydrogen from existing energy infrastructure, the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association says.

There is no combustion and no emissions other than water vapour, according to the association.

The fuel cell is also more than twice as energy efficient as traditional gas or diesel-powered engines and it doesn’t produce as much waste as the batteries that power electric vehicles do.

Not to mention, filling up with hydrogen takes less than five minutes, whereas charging an electric vehicle to full capacity at an electric charge station takes at least one hour, sometimes several.

A roadblock to putting this technology into practice is the infrastructure, University of British Columbia Clean Energy Research Centre representatives said.

Winston Li, a UBC Chemical Engineering PhD student said that building enough filling stations for these vehicles to meet the needs of drivers will be the biggest challenge.

Realistically, he said the technology and infrastructure could be implemented by 2020.

Li says that currently, B.C. only has four hydrogen filling stations – two in Surrey, one on UBC’s Vancouver campus, and one in Whistler.