BOARD MEETING DATE: April 2, 2010
AGENDA NO. 24

PROPOSAL:

California Fuel Cell Partnership Steering Team Meeting Summary and Quarterly Update

SYNOPSIS:

On December 4, 2009, the Board approved the proposal to renew membership in the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP) for 2010. This report summarizes the California Fuel Cell Partnership Steering Team meeting held February 23-24, 2010 and provides a quarterly update for the period beginning October 2009.

COMMITTEE:

Technology, March 19, 2010. Less than a quorum was present; the Committee Members present expressed their concurrence that this item be recommended for approval by the Board.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file the attached Steering Team meeting summary and quarterly activity report. 
 

Josie Gonzales
AQMD Representative to CaFCP 

CALIFORNIA FUEL CELL PARTNERSHIP 

Summary of Steering Team Meeting

Steering Team Representatives Attending:

• Andreas Truckenbrodt, AFCC
• Mary Nichols, Tom Cackette, CARB
• Anthony Eggert, Tim Olsen, CEC
• Puneet Verma, Chevron
• (absent), Chrysler
• Rosario Berretta, Christian Mohrdieck, Daimler
• Bob Babik, General Motors
• Byong Ki Ahn, Hyundai-Kia Motors
• Ben Knight, Honda R&D America
• Lance Atkins, Nissan Motor
• (absent), National Automotive Center
• Duncan MacLeod, Matias Sanchez-Cane, Shell H2
• Josie Gonzales, Matt Miyasato, SCAQMD
• Justin Ward, Toyota Motor Corp.
• Fred Joseck, U.S. DOE
• (absent), U.S. DOT
• Chris Grundler, U.S. EPA
• (absent), UTC Fuel Cell
• John Tillman, Volkswagen

SUMMARY OF AGENDA ITEMS 

• The Decisions and Assignments from the October 2009 CaFCP Steering Team meeting were approved.

• Catherine Dunwoody (CaFCP) reviewed CaFCP progress in 2009, which included the Road Tour from San Diego, California, through Oregon and Washington, ending in Vancouver, Canada, the initiation and daily use of new social media, their on-going education and ER training efforts in early hydrogen communities and additional steps to implement the Action Plan to deploy fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen stations. The 2009 final budget showed that CaFCP staff found additional savings and remained within budget.

• Members provided brief activity updates. Supervisor Josie Gonzales, (AQMD), provided greetings from Dr. Burke and the AQMD Governing Board, recognized the contributions of Supervisor Roy Wilson, encouraged partnerships that bring jobs and help the economy while sustaining our environment, and announced a potential request for proposals to maintain the Burbank hydrogen station, if approved by the AQMD Governing Board on March 5.

• Bill Elrick (CaFCP) provided a ten-year West Sacramento CaFCP facility review. Fuel cell vehicle types have changed and technology has made great progress. The hydrogen station maintenance is increasing, has exceeded its expected life, but still serves about 20 cars per day.

• Bill Elrick provided an overview of goals for a new Sacramento area station to support fuel cell vehicle usage, real world testing, and outreach efforts. New stations need to be publicly accessible to get public co-funding, so the current behind-the-fence CaFCP station in West Sacramento is no longer being discussed for upgrade. CaFCP staff members have developed cost-share criteria and plan to be announced in early March of up to $700,000 co-funding available to build a new hydrogen station. Station providers will need to submit letters of interest to CaFCP by mid-March, to be reviewed by the CaFCP Planning Team, so that a preferred proposer can demonstrate CaFCP support when they submit their proposal to the CEC for AB 118 co-funding.

• Chris White (CaFCP) provided an update regarding CaFCP outreach to legislators and non-governmental organizations to inform them about the CaFCP Action Plan and progress in deploying fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen stations. Based on feedback, CaFCP staff will plan webinars for Action Plan update on a regular basis. Supervisor Josie Gonzales recommended reaching out to League of CA cities & city/county conferences to provide additional outreach.

• Fred Joseck (U. S. DOE) provided an update regarding the DOE budget for hydrogen and fuel cell programs. Hydrogen is included in the 2011 budget, but at a reduced level, focused at programs to reduce costs and prove durability. The DOE Technology Validation program has shown that fuel cell stack durability demonstrated 2500 hours and counting. Early hydrogen stations will likely not do on site reforming which was one of the options investigated. A promising new project is at the Orange County Sanitation District using renewable fuel to provide combined heat, hydrogen dispensing, and electric power (CHHP). The International Partnership for a Hydrogen Economy (IPHE) meeting on February 25-26 will investigate international hydrogen and fuel cell progress to advise DOE in developing program priorities. The DOE Annual Merit Review meeting is June 7-11 in Washington DC. In response to a question from Matt Miyasato, (AQMD) Fred replied that existing DOE funded Technology Validation stations will finish expending current funding, but no additional DOE funding is available to continue station operation.

• Tom Cackette (CARB) provided an update about the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) and related regulations. By 2020, the goal is to return GHG emissions to 1990 levels, an 80% reduction by 2050. Transportation is 40% of total GHG emissions in CA, and light duty is 28% of the total. This is a greater percentage than most other regions, so the light duty goal is also to reduce GHG emissions by 80%. In June, CARB will establish renewable hydrogen requirements. When vehicle volume hits a trigger, all fuel stations will need to meet the renewable standard. By September, CARB will consider new vehicle GHG standards for 2017 – 2025 model year vehicles, using strategies like hybridization and light weighting, which keeps California on a path to 2050, but is insufficient. To get 80% reduction, revised ZEV requirements will be proposed in December with related infrastructure requirements. SB 375 requires local government to reduce vehicle miles traveled during the planning process. The Clean Fuels Outlet (CFO), Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), and ZEV regulations are considered short term technology regulations that lead to emission based regulations for vehicle GHG, Low Carbon Fuel and VMT. Aircraft and trucks will likely consume the bulk of available biofuels, so light duty vehicles need to rely more heavily on other fuels. Modeling shows that half of new sales will need to be ZEVs by 2030 to reach GHG reduction goals.

• Tim Olsen (CEC) provided an overview of AB 118 which is generated from vehicle and boat registration fees shared by CEC & ARB to stimulate cleaner, more efficient vehicle technologies and fuels over the next seven years. Last year, the CEC offered $176M to match federal stimulus (ARRA) funding, resulting in about $36M committed. CEC is currently reviewing about 140 proposals for biomethane production, medium and heavy-duty advanced vehicles, and infrastructure other than hydrogen fueling infrastructure. They are planning to release a $22M solicitation for hydrogen infrastructure, provide six weeks to respond, one month for CEC review, and announce awards in early summer. CEC is proposing $14M for hydrogen in the next investment plan.

• Shane Stephens-Romero (UC Irvine APEP) presented the STREET model which enables land-use based master planning and scenario analysis with street-level results for an Irvine, CA case study which integrates fuel production, distribution, energy & water consumption to determine GHG emissions and other air emissions. Analysis of travel time can be used to optimize hydrogen station placement. The model shows that 8 hydrogen stations could provide almost equivalent travel time as 34 existing gasoline stations and provides a rollout strategy for those eight stations. Additional constraints besides travel time could be added in the future. There is extremely limited undeveloped land available for building new hydrogen stations in a built-out, planned community like Irvine. Renewable resources include land fill gas, wastewater treatment, sanitation district, and a green waste recycling facility. The STREET model is not fuel specific and the goal is to be fuel neutral. Byong Ki Ahn (Hyundai) noted that in Korea there are hundreds of CNG buses operating in Seoul, but no fuel stations in the city. Duncan MacLeod (Shell H2) commented that relatively few existing urban gasoline stations have physical space to add hydrogen.

• Eileen Tutt (CalETC) was invited to provide her organization’s perspective on progress and challenges with electric infrastructure and “Making California EV Ready” program to find areas of cooperation with the CaFCP. She noted that everyone currently has a different definition of the “smart grid.” Commercial development of information technology is imperative to developing a smart grid, but each electric utility has a different approach. CalETC has federal support for vehicle incentives, but is looking for additional automaker input. Other areas for collaboration include education & outreach, shared learnings, shared local government efforts, the need for standards and fair tax structure. CalETC invited CaFCP to present similar information at the next CalETC Board meeting in March. The current CalETC board members are LADWP, SMUD, SCE, PGE, and Sempra.

• Bill Craven (Daimler) presented an automaker perspective on DOE priorities. USDOE needs to fill the vacant program manager position to improve program consistency. DOE should have separate programs for fuels and vehicles, and all auto companies (domestic and foreign) should be able to participate. The automakers should agree to an MOU for placing fuel cell vehicles like they did in Europe. CaFCP should increase its presence in Washington DC as much as possible by conducting ride & drives, engaging Washington DC based non-governmental organizations, conducting congressional briefings, etc.

• Chris White (CaFCP) discussed results of a focus group of 14 participants that operate fueling stations to determine their interest in hydrogen. Most of them thought that “alternative fuel” means only E85. They had no idea what hydrogen is or how they were impacted. They mentioned problems with low volume, equipment, inventory going bad. Most are small, space constrained, except the big box retailer. To add a fuel, they want to get a return on their investment within five years. The focus group results will be presented in more detail and discussed in breakout sessions at the IPHE workshop scheduled for February 25-26, 2010 in Sacramento.

• Catherine Dunwoody led a discussion about implementing the CaFCP Action Plan to deploy fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen stations in California. The proposed approach is to present a Progress Report for 2009, with actions for 2010 & 2011. A consensus of the members agreed that a public Progress Report is important to provide, but further editing is needed.

• Andreas Truckenbrodt (AFCC) presented a technology update that emphasized commonalities between battery electric vehicles (BEV), fuel cell vehicles (FCV) & extended range electric vehicles (E-REV), timeline emphasizing improved versions leading to 2015 production, with low temperature performance, increased power availability, and reduced costs.

• Since Jim Volk (Shell H2) will be unable to serve as Chair for 2010, Andreas Truckenbrodt will serve as Chair. Ben Knight (Honda) nominated Supervisor Josie Gonzales, AQMD as Vice Chair for 2010 from among the Government sector members, with a second from Justin Ward (Toyota) and unanimous approval by the members.

The next CaFCP Steering Team meeting is scheduled for June 22-23, 2010 at AQMD in Diamond Bar.

Additional information about the California Fuel Cell Partnership can be found at http://www.fuelcellpartnership.org.

Attachment (DOC, 9.4m)

CaFCP Quarterly Activity Report, October 2009 – December 2009