Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR, August 16, 2005

Letter to the Editor

This brief letter was submitted to Editor-in-Chief Ken Silverstein of
EnergyBiz Insider on August 9th, 2005.
We are looking forward to his reply!

Dear Editor,

I have read your editorial from August 5. Please allow me to add some of my own ideas, based on 12 years of personal experience in the growing Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Industry.

In general I agree with your thoughts; however, there are some additional items to be kept in mind, especially when you take a closer look at recent developments; by recent I mean that we must consider our blink of time in respect to the developments in technology 100 years before to help us look 100 years ahead.

At the moment, the worldwide discussions in Research & Development in hydrogen and fuel cells are moving much more in the direction of “the feasibility of the technology.” Nowadays, the increase of the velocity of the electrons within the proton membrane is celebrated as a “big” success among insiders. This is of course also very important, which I can and will not deny. However, the questions have to be asked, “What does the customer really want?” and “What is important for his/her daily life?” The example that comes to mind at this point is one that I often use in my worldwide presentations: In 1903 the Wright Brothers made the first flight in an aircraft with an engine on board. They didn’t come very far…after a few seconds, with a maximum altitude of 2 meters / 7 feet, they landed at a distance of 269 meters / 882 feet from their starting point. (pdf)

If the Wright Brothers would have then claimed: “Now we have the solution! There will be worldwide daily flights from Singapore to Frankfurt, and from London to Los Angeles, transporting millions of people from point A to point B, over all the continents!,” all the experts would have shaken their heads in disbelief. The laws of physics understood at this time would not have “allowed” an airplane made of wood and ropes in 1903 to fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters / 30,000 feet with 555 (paying) passengers on board. At this point, I say: “Dear Colleagues of Today’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community, with your present technology, you are exactly where the Wright Brothers stood in 1903. We can only hope that it doesn’t take our industry another 102 years to reach the future potential which is in hydrogen and fuel cells now well before us!”

My concern is that people are limiting themselves only to current technologies. They are focusing on stationary, mobile, and portable fuel cell applications. In all three cases, they are hindered by well-established infrastructures and industries, which a new technology like ours inevitably has to fight against. Does anybody really think that the international battery-producing companies are only waiting to be taken over? I am quite sure they already have highly competitive alternatives with better performance hidden in their back pocket.

I believe that we have to escape from this hydrogen and fuel cell technology-oriented mentality, and focus more to the additional benefits of the possibilities hidden in this technology. I am thinking of products and services that will benefit daily life worldwide in the future. And these products and services have to be A) new and B) of a higher calibre so that people will be willing to pay a considerable amount of money for them. Why do you think that young ladies in China are saving half of their monthly salary for six months just to buy a cellular phone? As consumer demand has shown, people will pay any price to have a particular product or service.

Earlier, who could afford cars, refrigerators, computers, or a cell phone that costs 3,000 Deutschmarks ($1,800 USD/ 1,500 Euros) (pdf), a calculator for a couple hundred Euros/ Dollars, or a colour TV? All of these items were luxuries that at the beginning, only the wealthy people could possibly afford. Over time they became more and more accessible to people of average income. Today these appliances are used in every household of the “Western World” (including the wealthy Asian families), as everyday necessities. Because of this breakthrough, the mass market for such luxury goods was, is and will be exploding worldwide, without the help of government subsidy. The implementations of such items were “Success Stories,” because they put their finger directly on the human vein – satisfying personal wishes – and, not to forget, because the consumers gained individual prestige by obtaining these products/services. At the moment, such thoughts within the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community are, unfortunately, still not widespread.

The much anticipated (and much needed) H2/FC breakthrough will come fast, first slowly, then gradually faster and at a worldwide scale. At the moment, on a global scale, there are still many success stories in this field. But these are more often from smaller companies, as you can also see from the articles in your EnergyPulse. Even in big companies, relative to the overall number of their employees, only small groups are actually working on hydrogen and fuel cells. Sometimes in disguise, without much attention from the media. Some developments are not highly promoted by the companies or research institutions at this time.

Worldwide there are not hundreds, but thousands of companies, research institutions, initiatives, and more and more associations, who work with more or less power to improve the hydrogen and fuel cells technology of the future. On my worldwide travels, I am constantly positively surprised to see the current activities and to meet the people behind these activities. At the recent ICHET Conference in Istanbul in July 2005, I saw a small company working on the production of hydrogen on board of conventional cars. The heart of this unit, the Reformer, is not bigger than two soda cans. Also attending was the Research & Development Division for Hyundai Motor Company & Kia Motors Corporation of Gyunggi-Do, Korea who displayed two of their Hyundai Tuscon Hydrogen Cars (FCEV). One car was used for the VIP’s and conference attendees as a Drive-and-Ride. The second one was a one-to-one Model with a very impressive display of all the relevant H2/FC components, such as the tank, the fuel cell, and the engine management. (On our Internet documentation, you can find photos from these two Hyundai vehicles.)

Progress in the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Industry is inevitably moving forward; it cannot be stopped. Whoever is not fully involved and active in this field at the moment will eventually have to deal with lost market shares. One last example: take a look at the exponential demand for digital cameras. Those companies who snobbishly cling to the good old 35 mm film are now in a serious commercial drawback and are fighting for their very existence…

About Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR: Arno is not only the organizer of the worldwide biggest hydrogen and fuel cell Group Exhibit at the annual Hannover Fair since 1995, he is also, founder, owner and operator of this unique event, which happens every year in April, next one: April 24-28, 2006 at Hannover, Germany. www.hydrogenambassadors.com tells more about Arno and his teams’ work.