California Fuel Cell Partnership to Build Vehicle and Fueling Facility In Capital Region
17 December 1999
California Fuel Cell Partnership to Build Vehicle and Fueling Facility In Capital Region WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 16 -- The California Fuel Cell
Partnership today announced plans to construct a headquarters office in West
Sacramento which will house fuel cell electric vehicles and a hydrogen
refueling station. The facility will serve as an operations base for executing
the Partnership's goals of demonstrating fuel cell vehicle technology and an
alternative fuel infrastructure over the next four years. The
55,000 square-feet, state-of-the-art facility is expected to open in autumn
2000.
"The state capital region offers significant value in terms of having a
presence near policymakers who can assist with advancing our mutual goals,"
said John Wallace, Chairman of the Partnership's Steering Committee and
Director for Environmental Vehicles at Ford Motor Company. "It's also an
advantageous location for vehicle and refueling demonstrations, with same-day
access to the Bay Area and various points in the Central Valley," Wallace
added.
Automotive partners DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen will
occupy indoor garage "bays" designed to house vehicles for routine servicing,
repairs, and diagnostic purposes. The vehicle partners will share costs to
install a chassis dynamometer bay for additional testing needs.
Energy partners Arco, Shell and Texaco will jointly fund a hydrogen
fueling facility which will dispense liquid and compressed hydrogen fuel
for the vehicles. The station is modeled after similar facilities built
in Nabern near Stuttgart, Germany for the DaimlerChrysler AG, in Dearborn,
Michigan for the Ford Motor Company and in Chicago, Illinois for the Chicago
Transit Authority.
The 4.8-acre site is located about five miles west of the state Capitol
grounds on Industrial Boulevard, and includes about 500 feet of freeway
frontage. The Pigman Companies, headquartered in Gold River, California,
specialists in corporate and customized industrial "build to suit" facilities,
owns the site and will develop the project for the Partnership. The
Partnership plans to lease the facility from Pigman for four years.
An on-site camera -- known as the "pigcam" -- will monitor daily progress
at the site and will be available for viewing through either the California
Fuel Cell Partnership (http://www.drivingthefuture.org) or Pigman Companies
(http://www.thepigmancompanies.com) website.
The architectural firm Williams+Paddon is designing the facility.
Booz-Allen & Hamilton, a global management and technology consulting firm, is
managing safety design and technical specifications. Earl Construction will
serve as the site_s general contractor; Therma will serve as the HVAC and
plumbing subcontractor; and Rex Moore will serve as the electrical
subcontractor.
Christopher Cabaldon, Mayor of the City of West Sacramento, welcomed the
Partnership to the community. "We're pleased to add another high-tech,
future-oriented enterprise to our growing business sector and to assist
as needed in making this demonstration project a success."
The Partnership will also maintain administrative offices at the facility,
and will accommodate public tours as part of its education and awareness
campaign. Informative kiosks, graphics, and hands-on learning stations will be
incorporated into the interior design.
For more information about the California Fuel Cell Partnership, please
contact any of the company spokespersons listed below:
CA Fuel Cell Partnership Joe Irvin 916-600-2564
CA Air Resources Board Jerry Martin 916-322-2990
California Energy Commission Claudia Chandler 916-654-4989
ARCO Cheryl Burnett 562-590-4493
Ballard Debby Harris 604-412-4740
DaimlerChrysler
USA: Ann Smith 248-512-6502
Germany: Annette Kliem 49-711-179-3307
Ford Glenn Ray 313-248-5994
Honda Art Garner 310-783-3163
Shell Kitty Borah 713-241-4544
Texaco Tyra Metoyer 713-752-4784
Volkswagen Tony Fouladpour 248-340-5064
The California Fuel Cell Partnership is a voluntary effort to advance a
new automobile technology that could move the world toward practical and
affordable environmental solutions. The Partnership will demonstrate fuel
cell-powered electric vehicles under real day-to-day driving conditions; will
demonstrate the viability of an alternative fuel infrastructure technology;
explore the path to commercialization; and increase public awareness of fuel
cell electric vehicles. The Partnership will place about 50 fuel cell
passenger cars and fuel cell buses on the road between 2000 and 2003.
