Quantum International, manufacturer of high performance engines and drive trains for the original equipment and aftermarket auto parts industries, spearheaded this week the launching of Norsk hydrogen refueling station as part of Europe’s effort to build a “Hydrogen Highway” across the continent.

Lines of Toyota 2007 Prius took to the refueling station outside the company’s research center at Heroya, Porsgrunn, Norway. It was officially opened on June 12 by State Secretary Steinulf Tungesvik of the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, and Norsk Hydro’s president Eivind Reiten.

The planned Hydrogen Highway between Oslo and Stavanger will cover a total of 580 kilometers of road. The Norwegian HyNor plan calls for five refueling stations along the main highway from Oslo to Stavanger, the center of the national petroleum industry that makes Norway the world’s third largest oil exporter, after Saudi Arabia and Russia.

By 2009, HyNor plans to have enough fueling stations along the 580 km route to allow hydrogen-powered vehicles to routinely make the trip. The ultimate goal is to extend the hydrogen infrastructure network through much of Scandinavia under the Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership, a joint organization formed by HyNor, Sweden’s HyFuture, and Denmark’s Hydrogen Link earlier this year.

“We are excited to participate with Miljobil Grenland, Norsk Hydro, Statoil, and the Norwegian government in building the foundation for one of the most progressive public-private hydrogen partnerships in the world,” said Alan Niedzwiecki, president of Quantum International. “Quantum’s hydrogen hybrid Priuses are generating increasing interest from around the world as clean, fuel-efficient alternatives to petroleum-fueled vehicles.”

“Based on the enthusiastic reception we received at the grand opening of the Norsk Hydro hydrogen station, we believe that opportunities will continue to grow for Quantum’s hydrogen hybrid Priuses throughout Europe and North America,” the Quantum president added.

Europe’s planned shift to hydrogen fuel cells came on the heels of a poll done by CarGurus.com, a US-based automotive community site, which revealed that a majority of the more than 500 respondents, or 80 percent, have no plans to buy a hybrid vehicle as their next car despite rising gas prices and a growing interest in curbing the emission of gases that contribute to global climate change. Hybrids cut emissions and gas use by using a fuel cell, like hydrogen, at slow speeds.

“Taking these results with the results of another survey we did in January, which showed the top two reasons car shoppers have for buying a new cars is better performance and better gas mileage, I think the concern here about hybrids is they don’t deliver on performance,” said Langley Steinert, CEO of CarGurus.com.

Hybrid cars do deliver better gas mileage. The 2007 Toyota Prius gets a combined city and highway gas mileage of 70 km per gallon, according to the US Department of Energy. That is far higher than the 35 kpg average fuel efficiency for other vehicles in the midsize car segment. But the 2007 Prius goes from 0 to 80 kph in a sluggish 10.1 seconds and achieves a top speed of only 130 kph, which could leave many new-car buyers cold, Steinert said.

There may be other road blocks for hybrid sales, which have wobbled since August. These include a decline in gas prices late last year and the fact that Toyota has run up against a federal limit for tax credits that have helped drive sales of the gas-friendly sedan. Another reason is recently revised fuel mileage standards from the Environmental Protection Agency that are designed to more accurately reflect how Americans drive their cars and will cut fuel economy estimates for cars like the Prius by an average 8 to 12 percent beginning this year.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 9:09 pm and is filed under Aftermarket Performance Parts news, New-generation performance auto parts, Performance parts manufacturers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.