Zach LeBlanc, top left, Kaitlyn Calvori, left foreground, both Ponaganset graduates, and Seth Keighley, a junior, maintain their car.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

GLOCESTER — The future of the automobile may be sitting in a big red garage in Harmony.

Inside, a black hydrogen fuel-cell engine roughly the size of a suitcase is being prepared for installation in a red 1992 replica of a 1923 Ford Model T. Once the conversion has been completed, it will be the first hydrogen-powered hot rod in the state.

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The project is the brainchild of Ross “Mad Dog” McCurdy, a Ponaganset High School science teacher who has taught a class about fuel cells and other renewable energy technologies for four years.

A fuel cell uses hydrogen and a series of proton exchange membranes — and resembles a file drawer with clear dividers — to create electricity. Instead of exhaust, the only emissions are heat and water.

There are about 200 hydrogen cars in the country and 25 hydrogen refueling stations, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Most of the cars and stations are in California.

The downside of the technology is it can be expensive, costing $110 per kilowatt in 2005. To be competitive with gasoline, the price would have to go down to $30 to $35 per kilowatt, according to Senate testimony by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In Harmony, the idea for retrofitting the highly modified “T-bucket” hot rod started in 2004. Jim Sullivan, an electrical engineer, car enthusiast and grandfather of two high school students, sold the two-seater to the school and allowed the students to work on it in his garage.

Last year, the students worked from March to May to convert the car to an electric vehicle, switching out the Chevy 350-cubic-inch V8 engine to use 144 volts of electricity from 12 batteries, McCurdy said. Sullivan and Mike Lewis, a mechanic, steam-pipe fitter and a father of one of the students, helped the class.

The project has been an eye opener for Sullivan and Lewis, who respectively have spent 54 and 25 years devoted to cars.

“We got the tools to do something and instigate change,” Lewis said. “We’re also wondering: why isn’t everyone else as invested into ending the curse of oil?

“If we can do this in Jim’s garage, what’s the holdup here?”

McCurdy has registered the hot rod with the state Division of Motor Vehicles, and it bears the license plate FUEL CL. On the car’s side are numerous decals from project sponsors, including the state Department of Energy Resources, which gave $40,000, Rhode Island Resource Recovery, which gave $5,000, and the Fuel Cell Test and Evaluation Center, which gave $100,000 for fuel-cell education.

Also on the side is a hand-drawn poster of a crossed-out oil derrick.

On Election Day, McCurdy and seven students brought the battery-powered hot rod to the State House to educate others about the environment and the importance of renewable energy.

Zach LeBlanc, 18, a recent Ponaganset graduate who worked on the car after school every week during the school year, said the trip was a great experience.

With the car traveling at 25 mph, it was a bit slower than other vehicles on the road — especially on the way back, when the batteries ran low. But it was also a lot quieter — just the sound of a whirring fan and the occasional blare of the horn.

LeBlanc remembers “getting all the looks from people, walking by and driving by, and not having any sound from the car.”

McCURDY HAS used numerous tactics to get his students motivated in hydrogen fuel cells, including rock ’n’ roll.

Hydrogen, like gasoline and other fuels, is flammable and can be dangerous if handled improperly. But McCurdy says “if you treat it with respect, it’s not an issue.”

In 2003, students hooked up a guitar amplifier to a fuel cell, leading to the creation of a fuel-cell-powered band, Protium, named after a hydrogen isotope. The band has played gigs at fuel cell and hydrogen conventions at such places as the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., Miami and Hollywood.

McCurdy and the band use one song in particular, “Coconut” by Harry Nilsson, in the classroom and at concerts to educate others how a hydrogen fuel cell works.Instead of You put the lime in the coconut, the band’s song goes:

You put the protons through the membrane and it goes right through, for you. ... But the electrons, the electrons can’t go through, so whatcha gonna do? Ooh …

Ultimately, McCurdy hopes to drive the hydrogen hot rod to Washington, D.C., to continue to raise awareness. He plans to swap the car’s batteries to the hydrogen fuel cell. McCurdy also is planning a cross-country trip with three students next year to show how two forms of renewable fuel — biodiesel and hydrogen — can be safe and efficient. He is hoping to obtain a pickup truck, which would use biodiesel, for the trip, and will bring along the retooled hot rod.

He is still looking for sponsors for both trips.

For information about McCurdy’s fuel cell class, projects and Protium, visit http://protium.us. To contact McCurdy, e-mail rkmccurdy@yahoo.com.

To learn more about hydrogen fuel cells, visit the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program at www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells.

mlee@pressofac.com