Financial crisis delays Iceland's hydrogen transportation project

Iceland is a gorgeous place. Just take a look at these Flickr submissions from the island. The country's finances aren't quite so pretty these days, and the reality of the financial crisis is dramatically slowing down the country's attempted shift to a hydrogen economy. Iceland has been testing hydrogen-powered vehicles for years, and the first hydrogen fueling station opened there in late 2007. One reason for the move to hydrogen is that the island country can fairly easily use geothermal energy to make hydrogen from water. The New York Times says that the shift to get all ground transportation vehicles and some boats to hydrogen power "have been set back at least 10 years and may have to be altered to allow for electric cars." The problem? The cost of fuel cells and the down world economy. A professor of chemistry at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik told the Times:

In the past years, teams from all the big car manufacturing companies visited us and said they intended to market fuel cell-powered hydrogen cars shortly after 2010. Of course, because of the current world crisis, there will be a delay.

Those of you rooting for electric vehicles to win out over H₂, don't forget that the Mitsubishi iMiEV is currently undergoing testing in Iceland. Of course, a busted economy can sink all ships, so don't enjoy the schadenfreude too much.

[Source: New York Times]
Photo by Neate Photos. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.