Chris Mole - Associate Editor
• Electric cars “normal” within 30 years.
• Contest between batteries and fuel-cells.
• NZ consortium backs battery power.
Hydrogen fuel-cells versus batteries will be the battleground for electric vehicles during the next few years. And one of NZ’s leading experts on electric cars, Mike Duke from Waikato University, believes battery-powered vehicles will triumph over hydrogen. Duke believes battery-powered cars will become the normal mode of personal transport during the next 30 to 40 years. He points out hydrogen fuel-cells require about three times as much energy to produce electricity from, compared with a battery.

Furthermore, Duke notes the infrastructure is already in place for electric cars, whereas a whole new hydrogen infrastructure would have to be built for fuel-cells. Duke and his team at Waikato University are part of an Aust-NZ consortium that is looking to form an alliance with a UK firm to develop electric cars. He won’t disclose who the potential UK partner is, or the type of battery being considered, but expects to be able to reveal more by the end of June.

The UK-based Lightning Car Company claims to be producing a battery-powered car using “nano-titanate” batteries, which give very long ranges and can be fully recharged in only 10 minutes. If this is true, it must be the almost perfect battery although Duke won’t say whether his consortium has any interest in this technology. He predicts during the next 20 or 30 years, “battery stations” will replace petrol stations, where drivers will be able to pull in and replace their battery. He adds recharging batteries will become quicker, so it will be possible on a long journey to stop for an hour’s lunch break and recharge the car before continuing.

But one of the UK’s top motoring writers, Andrew English, is dismissing battery-powered cars and is backing hydrogen fuel-cells to win the race. English predicts the battery in future electric cars will be little more than a buffer to store reclaimed braking energy. He believes hydrogen will be supplied by diverse sources, such as methane from sewage and agricultural waste, bio-fuels, bacteria, wave, wind and hydro-electric sources, solar energy, and even fossil fuels.

English notes to install a hydrogen refuelling point every 40km on US freeways and within 3km of more than 70% of the population would cost about $12bn. To put this into perspective, in coming years the oil industry estimates it will need to spend $200bn simply to secure its infrastructure. English notes Honda recently announced four new hybrid cars but CEO Takeo Fukui was also careful to restate a commitment to the fuel cell as a long-term solution. Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche recently committed his company to putting a fuel-cell car on sale within 10 years.

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