GM is currently working with a Japanese company, Honda, to co-develop a new fuel cell system along with hydrogen storage methods.
General Motors and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center are increasing their collaboration in the development of hydrogen fuel cell technology. Through a new agreement, GM and TARDEC will jointly test new hydrogen fuel cell-related materials and designs to evaluate their performance and durability before assembling them into full-scale fuel cell propulsion systems.
Taxpayers, of course, will pay the bill, but no details were released, and the right wing Republican shut down of the Federal Government means that AutoInformed queries are unheeded.
According to a release, the project will enable GM and TARDEC to develop technology that meets both of their requirements, accomplishing more tangible results than either entity could achieve on its own. The project is expected to continue for as long as to five years. TARDEC is currently evaluating GM fuel cell vehicles in Hawaii. The technology has possible military applications ranging from ground vehicles to mobile generators.
Fuel cell technology in theory addresses two major challenges with automobiles – petroleum use and carbon dioxide emissions. Fuel cell vehicles can operate on renewable hydrogen that can be made from sources like wind and biomass. The only emission from fuel cell vehicles is water vapor.
The light duty fuel cell vehicle (FCV) has shown promise for decades, but the problem remains that it is space age technology at NASA levels of cost. Not surprisingly, automakers have varying levels of interest fuel cells that always appear to be just a decade or so from commercialization, but interest is rising. Given the bloated defense budget, cost appears to be of little concern. Toyota claims it will have fuel cell vehicles on sale in the U.S. as early as late 2014.
GM is currently working with the Japanese company Honda to co-develop a new fuel cell system along with hydrogen storage methods. Both companies are convinced that fuel cell technology is one of the solutions, perhaps the ultimate solution, to achieve zero emissions. The two companies are, arguably, the most knowledgeable in the automotive world on what has so far been wildly impracticable fuel cell applications. GM and Honda have more patents in the area of fuel cell technology than any other automakers. It is claimed that circa 2020 affordable fuel cell electric vehicles will result from the joint venture.
That GM Honda joint-venture announcement mirrors previous ones from a JV among Ford Motor, Renault-Nissan and Daimler, this one claiming affordable, mass-market fuel-cell vehicles by 2017. BMW and Toyota also have a joint venture to develop fuel cells. (See GM and Honda Target 2020 for Viable Fuel Cell EVs, Toyota to Retail Hydrogen Fuel Cell Hybrids in U.S. by 2015, BMW and Toyota to Jointly Research Lithium Ion Batteries and BMW and Toyota Sign Deal for Joint Fuel Cell and Battery Programs)
GM’s Project Driveway program, launched in 2007, has accumulated nearly 3 million miles of real world driving in a fleet of 119 hydrogen-powered vehicles, more than any other automaker. GM is currently building a new Fuel Cell Development Laboratory in Pontiac, Michigan where the majority of the company’s fuel cell development work will take place.
