Fuel Cell Vehicles Video Transcript – 2 Minutes

Speaker Key:
Pacheco: Jessie Pacheco, Mail Clerk, ACS Logistics, Camp Pendleton
Balch: Shad D. Balch, Environment and Energy Specialist, General Motors
Brierley: Scott Brierley, Driver Relationship Manager, General Motors
Seaman: Samuel J. Seaman, Fleet Manager, SWRFT Camp Pendleton

NARRATOR:   What type of power generation system is pollution free and has potential to deliver twice the efficiency of an internal combustion engine? The hydrogen-powered fuel cell.

Pacheco:   These vehicles are the future. All the looks and the smiles and the people coming up to me and driving by me going with their thumbs up and they're saying 'Where can I get one?' 'I'll trade you.' It's just an amazing feeling.

Narrator:   Jessie Pacheco is speaking about the Office of Naval Research General Motors sponsored fuel cell vehicles at Camp Pendleton in San Diego.

Balch:  It produces no exhaust coming out of the tailpipe the only by-product of it out of the rear is water vapor. It's a pure electric vehicle, which is also pretty cool because electric motors have instant torque and full horsepower right from the get go.

Narrator:  The efficiency of a fuel cell may prove to be twice that of an internal combustion engine, if not greater. From an operational perspective, the fuel vehicle is quiet, yet powerful, uses fewer moving parts than a combustion engine, and offers an alternative to the logistics chain associated with current military vehicles.

Brierley:   This is essentially a zero-emission vehicle where out of the exhaust, so to speak, is literally water, H2O. There's no burning going on. There's no combustion going on at all -- it is a completely different process taking place.

Narrator:   Fuel cell vehicles at Camp Pendleton provide a glimpse into the future of advanced transportation technology that reduces use of petroleum, affords environmental stewardship benefits such as reduced air pollution, and produces a smaller carbon footprint for the Navy and Marine Corps bases.

Seaman:  This is where we’re going. This is where we need to take our warfighters. This is cutting-edge technology and it's where we're going to go in the future and to get us away from petroleum products and oil, this is where we're going to need to go – it’s hydrogen.

Narrator:   ONR fuel cell research is not limited to vehicles, and spans the operational spectrum from ground vehicles to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to man-portable power for Marines and application afloat.

Narrator:  The vision of a battle force independent from foreign oil, burning clean fuel, efficiently and effectively, with reduced logistical costs moves ONR forward, as revolutionary research continues to deliver relevant results.