By the year 2015, fuel cells could be the primary source of power on vehicles such as Chrysler Concordes and Dodge Intrepids, and achieve levels of fuel economy and emissions performance only dreamed of today. But we are not solely focused on short-term profits and technologies. We're investing in promising, long-term technologies that can benefit society but are not being pulled by demand yet. Fuel cells are a good example of this kind of investment, and I think it's fair to say they have the potential to become the ultimate power source if we can satisfactorily address the challenges. Any fuel gasoline, diesel fuel, methane, alcohol, etc. is a likely candidate, observed Borroni-Bird, because the processor burns anything.
All fuels burn by definition.
The approach is based on existing technologies, he added. For example, partial oxidation, one of the stages of the process, is common in the oil refining industry. Chrysler is working with Arthur D. Little, an international research consulting firm, in refining the process and developing operating hardware. The next step is to develop working models of a complete system to prove its feasibility. We hope to be able to demonstrate the system in a vehicle within two years, Borroni-Bird said.