Long-term Research Should Include Different Energy Sources,
Fuels and Propulsion Systems
DETROIT, March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Hydrogen fuel cells should be one of, but
not the only, area of long-range research conducted by the scientific
community, said Helmut List, Chairman and CEO of Austrian-based AVL GmbH,
during his keynote address at a Society of Automotive Engineers titled, "The
car at the center of sustainable mobility: Can it be done?"
List argues that while hydrogen fuel cells are the most likely candidate
for long term sustainable mobility, history has taught the automotive industry
that some technologies -- like viable batteries for electric vehicles and jet
turbines -- never became feasible for personal transportation.
List continued, "The point I'm trying to make today is that scientific
prudence demands that we in the business of personal mobility research must
take into account different scenarios, especially in the long term. As my
American friends would say, 'You can't put all your eggs in one basket.'
"Those of us who do research for a living know this: one cannot predict
the outcome of research in the long-term. If long-term research were
predictable, it wouldn't be research. Predictable long-term research is an
oxymoron."
Going further, he argued that the internal combustion engine may be on the
cusp of another revolutionary change, where fuel supply, air supply and
ignition would all be flexible, thus taking advantage of the strengths of both
the compression and spark ignition.
Does this mean that List and AVL are against fuel cells? Not at all. As
List said in his speech, "There are certainly many reasons to be optimistic.
Fuel cell work today is progressing quite nicely in some stationary
applications, as well as in some larger mobile applications, like city buses.
In these cases, size, packaging and cost are less critical than they are with
personal transportation."
"If we apply this kind of thorough research, I believe that we have a good
chance to achieve technological breakthroughs that would allow us by 2020 to
increase the efficiency of the internal combustion powertrain by 70%. This,
of course, is long-term research -- I said by 2020, and this is by no means
proven. But it is clearly worth the research investment."
AVL is the world's largest privately owned and independent company for the
development of gasoline, diesel, alternative fuel powertrain systems, as well
as fuel cell and hybrid technologies. The company also manufactures
powertrain instrumentation and test systems. Close cooperation with customers
is guaranteed by affiliates and local offices worldwide. AVL's North American
Headquarters is located in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, Michigan.
Visit http://www.stratacomm.net/releases.htm to view the full text of List's
speech.
SOURCE AVL
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CONTACT:
Chris Terry of of Strat@comm,
+1-248-649-8000, for AVL
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