I'm about to drive into the future.

To get there, I've come to Powertech Labs, a subsidiary of BC Hydro located on Hydro property in Surrey. Allan Grant, Hydro's manager of hydrogen programs, has invited me here to test-drive a vehicle designed to reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The vehicle's fuel consists of a mixture of 51 per cent hydrogen and 49 per cent compressed natural gas. The fuel mixture comes out of a high-pressure pump that looks like a regular gas pump - part of a hydrogen fuelling system that is part of Hydro's compressed hydrogen infrastructure program (CH2IP).

The vehicle I'm testing looks like an ordinary white Ford F-150 pickup truck. Actually, it is an ordinary white Ford F-150 pickup truck - with some not-so-ordinary added parts.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Reporter Monte Stewart test-drives a hydrogen-fuelled pickup and finds it has comparable acceleration to gas vehicles.

Hydro sent the 5.41-litre V-8 engine to Colliers Technologies Inc. of Reno, Nev.

The U.S. company converted the engine so that it could run on the hydrogen/compressed gas mixture.

Because hydrogen is a cold-burning fuel that does not possess the same explosiveness as natural gas, Hydro engineers added a shiny silver supercharger and extra fuel injectors under the hood. The compressors and turbocharger help to give the truck's engine more oomph, or acceleration.

The turbocharger and a few other gadgets also allow 25 per cent of the exhaust fumes to be recirculated into the engine and burned again, says Grant.

"And in this way, we can get emissions that are actually lower than a (Toyota) Prius," says Grant, referring to a popular hybrid vehicle that is powered by a gasoline engine and electric motor.

In the back of the pickup, there's a big black metal box. Inside the box, there are three gas cylinders and compressors, one on top of the other, which house and compress the hydrogen/compressed gas mixture. Hydro obtained the cylinders from Calgary-based Dynetek Industries.

The lightweight cylinders are made of an ultra-strong aluminum-carbon fibre alloy. Grant and Joe Wong, Powertech's manager of infrastructure programs, show me a tank that a standard bullet has been unable to pierce - there is only a dent.

It took a special armour-piercing bullet to breach the cylinder.

Craig Webster, Hydro's director of gas systems engineering, screens a video for me that shows the bullet tests.

When the armour-piercing bullet penetrates the cylinder, hydrogen escapes like steam from a kettle and quickly dissipates.

All of the testing, in addition to finding the right type of low-cost cylinder, aims to show that hydrogen is a safe fuel. Grant, Wong and Webster all tout how safe it is, attempting to ease concerns that any collisions or other misfortunes will cause explosions.

(Even a heavy block of steel dropped from several metres in the air could not pierce a test tank. However, part of a concrete pad that was housing the cylinder had to be repaired after the metal block was dropped on it.)

The inside of the pickup appears normal. There's an accelerator pedal, brake pedal and gear shift in the steering column. As I turn the key, the engine starts up right away.

As we begin our tour, I notice that the pickup sounds slightly different from a gasoline-powered truck. It whirrs like an old bus, whereas - at least to my way of thinking - an ordinary pickup rumbles or hums.

I meander the vehicle slowly through the Powertech parking lot and cruise down a short road. So far, it has felt like a regular vehicle, but I've been going slowly so that Business Edge photographer Bayne Stanley can shoot my picture for posterity.

After all, I'm driving into the future.

I turn left onto a straightaway that rises slightly. Now comes the big test. Time to let 'er rip and see whether this baby can move like a similar gasoline-powered vehicle. The truck accelerates immediately and has no trouble getting up the small hill. Before I know it, we're at the top and already turning around to go back down.

I tell Grant that it feels just like a regular pickup truck.

"That's good, because that's the way it's supposed to feel," says Grant.

But few people will drive such a vehicle. The costs of compressed natural gas and converting conventional vehicles to run on it are too high.

And there's no market for such vehicles, says Grant.

This pickup - or future editions of it - will likely be adapted to include hydrogen fuel cells that are being created by Ballard Power Systems of Burnaby and adapted into cars and trucks through agreements with major automotive manufacturers such as Ford, Toyota, and DaimlerChrysler.

With help from an electrolyzer and water, battery-like hydrogen fuel cells produce enough electricity to power a vehicle just like gasoline does now - without the greenhouse gas emissions. Soon, the cost of fuelling a hydrogen-powered vehicle will be as low as the cost of fuelling a regular vehicle, says Grant.

That affordability factor will make hydrogen-powered vehicles appealing to huge markets in California and other U.S. states.

In other words, this vehicle of the future is already a thing of the past.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)