GM Pushes the Pedal on Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Power

General Motors Corp. says it hopes to begin pumping hundreds of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles a year into ordinary buyers' hands through GM dealerships beginning in 2011.

Though small numbers by auto-industry standards, it's the most ambitious public plan yet to bring pollution-free fuel-cell vehicles into the mainstream.

Perhaps more important, GM is "working as hard and fast as we can for competitive reasons," rather than as pure research on a promising technology, says Larry Burns, GM vice president in charge of research and development.

Until now, Honda has been the fuel-cell champion. CEO Takeo Fukui said in Japan late last month that Honda will put up to 100 of its 2008 FCX regular-production fuel-cell sedans into U.S. customers' hands next year, probably via two- or three-year leases.

Hyundai has promised to mass-produce fuel-cell vehicles as soon as 2012, no later than 2015. Burns says 2011 is as soon as GM could deliver. In the interim, GM is handing over 100 Chevrolet Equinox SUVs, modified to run on fuel cells instead of gasoline engines, to regular drivers for three months at a time the next three years to collect data. As envisioned, the GM fuel cell will be a hydrogen version of the Chevrolet Volt electric car.

Source: USA Today