Fuel-cell car rally opens Norway's hydrogen highway

By Wojciech Moskwa and Karin Larvik

DRAMMEN, Norway (Reuters) - Norway opened a 560 kilometer (350 mile) "hydrogen highway" on Monday with more than a dozen hydrogen-powered cars rallying along a scenic route between its capital city Oslo and North Sea oil hub Stavanger.

Norwegian oil and gas producer StatoilHydro has built several hydrogen filling stations between the two places to cater for cars with fuel-cells that generate electricity from a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen or burn hydrogen in a combustion engine similar to those in petrol cars.

These zero-emission vehicles have short ranges but promising results, and in the longer-term, Statoil may link the road to a hydrogen autobahn in northern Germany. Japan and California already have hydrogen highways.

"The torque in an electric car is fabulous," professional rally driver Henning Solberg told Reuters before taking off in the Viking Rally's No. 1 car with Norway's Crown Prince Haakon.

"In acceleration, you could get as fast a car as you want with an electric engine," said Solberg, whose hydrogen-powered Ford Focus nevertheless began the rally without the customary engine-revving and screeching of tires.

Touted as future alternatives to carbon-dioxide emitting petrol engines, the still-experimental hydrogen engines emit only clean water, though it takes energy to produce hydrogen.

Unlike electric motors which take hours to recharge, the nearly silent hydrogen cars can be refueled in a matter of minutes, much like conventional cars.

"We have to look for additional sources of fuel for the future and we believe hydrogen is a good option, especially as it has the characteristics of a zero-emission fuel and ... you could produce hydrogen from many sources," said Ulf Hafseld, head of hydrogen business development at StatoilHydro.