Fuel cells in the military.

• Author: James, Rachel
• Position: Letter to the editor

Regarding the June article in National Defense titled, "Fuel Cells Fail to Make Inroads With the Military," thank you for taking the time to focus on fuel cell use in the military.

The technology holds great promise for military applications in both expeditionary and non-expeditionary missions.

For instance, in the January article in National Defense, "Army Seeks to Tap Into Auto Industry's Massive R&D Spending," the reporter gives details on the Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center's Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 fuel cell electric truck. This article speaks in stark contrast to the magazine's characterization of the military's engagement with both hydrogen fuel and fuel cell technology.

The article ignored the simplest, cleanest and most likely way of refining pure hydrogen for the Defense Department, and that is electrolysis--splitting water into H2 and O2 using only DC electric current and clean water.

The reforming process the article focused on is the cheapest and most common method in the gas production industry, but it is far from the only way to glean hydrogen.

Likewise, focusing on metal-hydride storage, which is the trend for small scale storage, is not currently practical for large-scale applications. A more practical storage solution is hydrogen gas stored in...