Fuel Cell Car Record Run Fueled With Methanol

WASHINGTON, June 4 -- DaimlerChrysler made history today as the methanol-fueled NECAR 5 became the first fuel cell-powered vehicle to drive across the United States. The 3,000-mile trek began in San Francisco, California, on May 20th, and ended today in Washington, D.C. at the foot of the U.S. Capitol. Senate Auto Caucus Chairmen Carl Levin (D-MI) and George V. Voinovich (R-OH) welcomed the NECAR 5 and its team of 15 engineers from DaimlerChrysler and Ballard Power Systems.

"The automotive industry has not seen an endurance milestone as important as today's since a Winton Touring Car became the first vehicle to drive cross- country in 1903," said Methanol Institute President & CEO John Lynn. "Running on liquid methanol allowed NECAR 5 to go 300 miles between fill ups, proving that fuel cell cars have the right stuff for American consumers."

The NECAR 5 uses an on-board reformer to extract hydrogen from liquid methanol. As the fuel provider for NECAR 5, the Methanex Corporation delivered methanol in advance to refueling points along the route, allowing for refilling NECAR 5 every 300 miles and demonstrating the ease of filling up with methanol.

Known as "wood alcohol," methanol is a simple, hydrogen-rich molecule. While most of the 13 billion gallons of methanol produced globally each year are made from natural gas, methanol can be produced from a host of renewable resources such as landfill methane gas, wood waste and dedicated biomass crops. Currently, there is enough excess methanol production to fuel 10 million fuel cell vehicles annually.

As a building block for hundreds of chemical commodities, methanol is one of the most widely distributed chemicals in the world. To serve the transportation market, the existing gasoline infrastructure could be easily modified to dispense methanol. On April 24th, 2002, the California Fuel Cell Partnership opened a 2,000-gallon aboveground station in West Sacramento that was installed by Methanex for only $45,000. The total cost to add a methanol pump to one-in-four service stations in the United States is equal to what Americans pay at the pump for gasoline in just five days. According to DeWitt & Company, the wholesale price for methanol in April was just 42c per gallon. At the retail level, methanol can be priced competitively with gasoline.

The Methanol Institute serves as the trade association for the global methanol industry.