NZ boatbuilders could turn to low-pollution cars

By SIMON COLLINS, science reporter

New Zealanders' boatbuilding skills may be turned to making hydrogen-fuelled cars.

The president of Colorado-based Hypercar Inc, Dr Jon Fox-Rubin, believes New Zealand could copy Iceland in taking hydrogen from geothermal steam to run pollution-free cars.

He said New Zealand boatbuilders had expertise in lightweight carbon and other composite materials that could make hydrogen-fuelled cars economic.

Hypercar, chaired by Natural Capitalism author Amory Lovins, designs cars that are lightweight and use hydrogen fuel cells to be up to six times as efficient as petrol cars.

Dr Fox-Rubin and his business development manager Dave Dwight visited McDell Marine in Glendene and Unitec engineers yesterday, and hope to visit Auckland University and Albany-based High Modulus, which specialises in marine composite structures.

They are also meeting entrepreneur Stephen Tindall, Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton and officials in the Economic Development and Science ministries and at the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

"We'd like to create an entity in New Zealand that explores this further," Dr Fox-Rubin said.

Hydrogen is seen as the fuel most likely to replace petrol as oil supplies dwindle in the next few decades. Carmakers such as Ford and Toyota have made prototype hydrogen cars, and in January US President George W. Bush allocated US$1.2 billion ($2.1 billion) for hydrogen research over the next five years.

The project is a centrepiece of the US strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions because hydrogen would mix with oxygen from the air to produce nothing more toxic than water.

But the "hydrogen economy" depends on finding cheap ways to extract hydrogen from steam, natural gas or other sources, and on creating a network of refuelling stations.

Dr Fox-Rubin said it could be 10 to 15 years before hydrogen became cheap enough to replace petrol completely.

But he and Mr Dwight expect a gradual transition, starting with "hybrid" cars that can run on hydrogen and petrol.

"If we can make more efficient vehicles, the sooner the better, even if they're not the holy grail of hydrogen," said Mr Dwight.

Hypercar said simply shifting to lightweight composite materials could triple vehicle efficiency and end the environmental cost of painting steel cars. "In the US, one-third of the emissions from manufacturing cars are from the paint shop," said Dr Fox-Rubin.

"By rethinking the backbone architecture of the vehicle, you open up new freedom in design to employ non-painted products.

"On a steel body, the body and doors are in many cases structural. So we're going back to an older design methodology with a frame where you bolt everything to it. There's a lot of experience in carbon fibre composite technology in New Zealand that will work well with our manufacturing."

The Associate Minister of Energy and Transport, Harry Duynhoven, said: "There's a pretty good opportunity here if we want to grab it."