BOARD MEETING DATE: September 9, 2005
AGENDA NO. 32

California Fuel Cell Partnership Steering Team Meeting

SYNOPSIS:

This report summarizes the California Fuel Cell Partnership Steering Team meeting held July 19-20, 2005.

COMMITTEE:

Technology, July 22, 2005, Reviewed

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file the attached report.

Cynthia Verdugo-Peralta
SCAQMD Governing Board

Summary of Steering Team Meeting
July 19-20, 2005

The Fairmont Waterfront
900 Canada Place Way
Vancouver, BC V6C3L5
 

Steering Team

Mike Rosenburg, Steve Kukucha, Ballard

Representatives Attending:

Mike Jones, BP Alan Lloyd, Cal-EPA Analisa Bevan, CA Air Resources Board Jim Boyd, California Energy Commission Linda Gallaher, ChevronTexaco Jurgen Freidrich, DaimlerChrysler Eldon Priestly, ExxonMobil Todd Suckow, Ford Alan Weverstad, General Motors Ben Knight, Honda R&D America Tae Won Lim, Hyundai America Technical Center Taro Hagiwara, Nissan Motor (absent), National Automotive Center Phil Baxley, Brad Smith, Shell Hydrogen B.V. Cynthia Verdugo-Peralta, SCAQMD Kyo Hattori, Toyota Motor Corporation Pat Davis, U.S. DOE Tim Klein, U.S. DOT Chris Grundler, U.S. EPA Mike Gorman, UTC Fuel Cells Bernd Ruderisch, Volkswagen of America Inc.

On Monday, July 18, 2005, Cynthia Verdugo-Peralta and several other CaFCP members attended a tour of Greenlight Power Technologies facilities near Vancouver. Greenlight is a manufacturer of fuel cell test equipment. An overview of the company, which is a subsidiary of Hydrogenics (who bought out Stuart Energy), was given as well as a tour of their production and testing facility. For more information, visit http://www.hydrogenics.com/greenlight/.

SUMMARY OF AGENDA ITEMS

• Catherine Dunwoody, CaFCP Executive Director, summarized the progress toward 2005 deliverables so far this year and reviewed the mid-year financial report.
• Shoji Tange, JHFC, provided an overview of the Japanese Hydrogen Fuel Cell Project partners and funding, and described the new Japanese Automotive Research Institute (JARI) Hydrogen & FCV Safety Evaluation Facility (HySEF), where they conduct automotive safety testing on vehicles and components like hydrogen storage tanks.
• Jinichi Tomura, JHFC, reviewed the current status of JHFC Hydrogen Station Demonstrations. Twelve stations have been built to serve 60 demonstration fuel cell vehicles. An important feature of their program is to compare efficiency of generating hydrogen from a variety of sources including gasoline, methanol, electrolysis, jet fuel, coke oven gas, etc., over 80 pathways. The Steering Team thanked the presenters for sharing and committed to presenting CaFCP information to the JHFC in exchange.
• Al Weverstad, GM, CaFCP 2005 Chair, described the purpose and scope of discussion to plan for CaFCP future activities. Members then attended breakout sessions to discuss technical programs, communication programs, organizational needs, infrastructure needs, and joint facility needs. In the session led by Cynthia Verdugo-Peralta, SCAQMD; regarding Infrastructure and the CA Hydrogen Highway network; Analisa Bevan, ARB and one of the Managers for the CA Hydrogen Highway Net, provided an update on the $6.5M budget approved to begin implementation of the CA Hydrogen Highway network by co-funding three hydrogen fueling stations, twelve vehicles, as well as program support and outreach. CAFCP Steering Team members discussed how they viewed future interaction with the CA Hydrogen Highway Net implementation phase.
   
  In addition, the Steering team members suggested alternate meeting locations and considered reducing the frequency of full Steering Team in-person meetings in the interest of reducing expenses. There was also a suggestion to invite more guest speakers to future Steering Team meetings. The Planning Committee of the Steering Team will continue the discussion, and develop a proposed plan for Post ’07 for consideration by the full Steering Team.
• Elson Priestly, ExxonMobil provided a presentation about ExxonMobil’s recent advancements in pressure swing reforming technology. Although DOE suspended their research funding for on-board reforming last year, ExxonMobil believes this technology shows promise for on-board reforming and also stationary reforming and fuel cell auxiliary power units (on trucks).
• Adam Gromis, CaFCP provided an overview of CaFCP technical programs, the new structure of the Interoperability team, and progress toward goals for 2005 -2006.
• A proposed budget and revised project plan for the hydrogen Station Testing Apparatus (STA) was discussed and approved for the CaFCP staff and members to complete and operate the equipment through the end of 2005 and CaFCP staff was directed to seek information on third-party testing services for consideration by the Steering Team.
• Update to the CaFCP legal documents was discussed with a consensus of members agreeing to continue using existing documents.
• The members approved new collaborative work language included in the revised CaFCP Operating Protocols.
• The upcoming Road Rally 4 around the Bay area September 29 – October 1 was discussed and all members were encouraged to participate.
• Ken Koyama, CEC provided a status report on CaFCP bus demonstrations and cost reduction goals for the next generation of fuel cell buses.

The next CaFCP Steering Team meeting is scheduled for October 18-19 in Sacramento.

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