Seven years after the launch of General Motors’ ambitious “Project Driveway,” a 119-car fleet of Chevrolet Equinox hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles has officially racked up 3 million miles of real-world driving.
While the road to mainstream hydrogen-powered automobiles has taken a backseat to other alternative fuels in recent years, this strong group of Chevrolet hydrogen vehicles shows that this advanced technology still has hope in the market. In fact, General Motors has saved an estimated 157,894 gallons of gasoline due to the seemingly minute fleet.
“Hydrogen fuel cell technology is an important part of GM’s advanced propulsion portfolio and we continue to make substantial progress in furthering this technology,” said Charlie Freese, executive director of GM’s global fuel cell engineering activities. “These vehicles have operated through seven full winters and a wide range of environmental conditions, proving that fuel cells can meet the demands of real-world drivers.”
Until the inherent obstacles with hydrogen technology are successfully overcome, this forward-thinking design may be relegated to only a few drivers, but with General Motors’ substantial investment in this alternative fuel solution, perhaps one day soon the world will be driving their very own fuel-cell automobile.
Comments
The cars are ready to go but the fueling stations and time to fill both need be in greater number and faster to fill.
I have driven the GM models and they are wonderful to drive. Much like a Volt in torque since it uses similar electric motor drive.
If the government would stop wasting money on so many stinking solar panels and wind mills that amount to so little and invest in infrastructure to fuel Hydrogen vehicles they may make some head way.
The problem comes down if there are no car sold no one will invest in the infrastructure and if there is no infrastructure no one will buy a hydrogen car. A real catch 22.
so the car doesn’t convert the water into hydrogen ?
No it converts hydrogen into electricity. The only by product is water.
It is the same system used by NASA to make electricity in space craft.
I totally agree with you Scott. I have been tracking hydrogen for transportation, and electric grid power for decades. One administration, after another, has vocally supported hydrogen, while pushing this technology to the back burner. It’s going to take a national effort, to install the infrastructure to our highest system. Instead, this administration has chased solar, and wind power down the rabbit hole, when a clean fuel is abundant for the use of hydrogen fuel… natural gas. The administration’s idea of a national effort for transportation is high speed rail is burning capital, which could be used for hydrogen infrastructure.
Maybe we will get lucky, and by accident, government will get behind hydrogen, and fund it with a national effort, that would rival President Eisenhower’s national interstate system.
@ R Smyrna
Or…perhaps we shouldn’t look to government to supply our fuel needs. Remember, the U.S. government did not build out the tons of gas stations that popped up all over America back in the old days, did it? No – it was private enterprise. Mom and Pop who had a drugstore or could buy a piece of property by a road realized a big profit could be made by installing
a gas tank and pump. It’s no different today – except it’s electric outlets, not expensive/dangerous and complicated
hydrogen fuel stations.
Case-in-point: TESLA. Tesla is building, at it’s own expense – a nationwide fuel infrastructure! How? By purchasing small
pieces of parking lots and real estate and running wiring to it for their Supercharger Quick Chargers. Today, Tesla is
using more portable charging stations that can be put in place by one forklift and an electrician. There are over 100 Superchargers nationwide and growing weekly. Three in my state alone – and when the car they produce can go 200-300
miles on a charge – and that charger takes 20 minutes – it makes sense to locate them near toilet facilities, fast food, sit down restaurants and shopping. Public and Public/Private charging efforts for Level 2 ( 240v ) semi-fast charging stations
have fallen on their faces. Ecotricity took the government money and squandered it, then went bankrupt. What we got
there was inferior-non-working charging stations and far less than they projected producing. So Tesla storms ahead
providing clean – cheap fuel for their own vehicles with the cost of charging baked into the cost of their cars!
More food-for-thought: Hydrogen often comes from electricity and/or natural gas. Natural gas is not “green”. Most
comes from fracking ( hydraulic fracturing ) – in other words, shooting high pressure steam and toxic chemicals deep
into the ground, cracking and fracturing rock and, in turn – destroying entire water tables. After the oil shortages and crisis,
experts predict drinking water is next on the extinction list. Soon after comes our own extinction. No, I am not a radical, but
one needs to study where all that oil and natural gas comes from and at what cost ( on top of the pain at the pump ).
I live in a state where we enjoy 88% clean hydropower. Some Tesla stations include solar panels and storage batteries
which is another complete industry that provides prosperity and a future. There are a lot of critics who love to push
Keystone Pipeline and rank on electric cars. Problem is – all of their arguments are old, tired and false. Don’t look
to your government ( your tax money ) to provide a hydrogen fool cell future. Hydrogen is a red herring used by auto
companies and energy tycoons to fool you into thinking it could become a reality. We who love electric cars like GM’s
Volt and SparkEV love to remind folks that hydrogen fuel cells have always been a technology that is “20-25 years out” ,
– It was 20-25 years out 20 years ago and it’s still 20-25 years out. Insiders at Toyota and GM, who’ve been getting
government research money for decades to provide us with hydrogen cars and trucks – admit that it’s unlikely we’ll
see a hydrogen reality any time soon.
Before anyone reading my comments gets any ideas. I have to emphasize that even though much-publicized cross-country
trips have been made by Tesla Model S, even in range-sapping freezing weather – stats are showing only 17% of Tesla owners are charging using the Supercharger network. Over 82% of folks charge at home – overnight, using 240V Level
2. It’s funny when you hear people argue that, “charging at home is a hassle”…LOL. I mean, you charge your smartphone
every night, don’t you? To those people that believe paying 3-4 cents per mile vs. 45-65 cents per mile and never seeing
a smelly, crowded gas station in the cold rain again isn’t good – I have to tell you, try it, you’ll like it! That, and cordless
charging is making inroads fast. Just like NFC-equipped phones can charge on a charge pad and not require a plug, so
wireless charging at home is quickly becoming a reality. So now, even lifting that heavy, heavy ( lol ) plug won’t be
an issue!
GM has admitted to hiring “spies” to track Tesla’s every move. They’ve also said that they could/maybe/possibly/if they feel like it – build an affordable 200+ mile electric sedan. Tesla is well on it’s way to the 2017 Gen III with a target of MSRP: $35,000 and a range of 200 miles. GM could beat them to it easily. Will they? Probably not. GM is developing Volt gen2
as we speak and we’ll see a cheaper ( Prius-Fighter ) version with 3-across back seat, and a more expensive version
with 3 cylinder Ecotec range-extender and possibly more EV range. So far, the all-electric GM car is vaporware.
Instead of American startup, little-guy Tesla needing to buy land for charging stations – GM has the advantage of
building FAST CHARGERS ( 15-20 minute to 80-90% charge ) or cheaper 240V Level 2 chargers at each dealership
dotting the countryside. So a pre-fab charging network! This makes tons more sense than all the hydrogen fool-cell
busywork they’re doing at this point. Politically – in Washington D.C. it all sounds clean, green and great. In reality –
it’s a big farse being played out upon all of us.
@James…
Whew!… you should get paid by Tesla for shilling their project.
Did you know where most of those dead batteries go? They go to third world countries, in or case… Mexico, where they are disassembled by lore paid workers. The work is a pit of highly toxic lead, and dangerous lithium. Lots of the dead batteries end up in land fills where they leach the toxic waste into the aquifer water systems. Most electricity is from coal generation, that is very hard to scrub the toxins and acids sowed into the air.
Energy doesn’t come without cost. As for mom and pop filling stations… they can be fitted with hydrogen fill tanks. The government could help, by securing private loans to the mom and pops, with low, to no interest rates. No one said snubbing about a nationalized hydrogen supply infrastructure.
But don’t you worry your little head off. The market will dictate which alternative energy systems will flourish.
I think James likes to “rattle the cages” of hydrogen proponents. It is too bad we have folks exaggerating the benefits of their chosen clean transportation solution and exaggerating the problems with other solutions. There are ~200million vehicles in the USA and there is no “silver bullet” solution! For many years to come there will be room in the market for many clean transportation technologies. Folks who say hydrogen is a farse, or foolish, are not informed. For decades there have been very smart people saying we should work toward a hydrogen economy. Since the reasons for this lie in the physics of energy production, storage and transfer it seems engineers and scientists are the ones who are informed and “get it”. One easy way to get informed is at http://www.h2andyou.org
@ Eric.
Thanks for the info Eric.
I’m too old to get rattled cages. You’re right… there is no silver bullet, and within the laws of ying and yang… there is always a dark side.
My best to you.
No cage rattling needed. In-between misspelling words, Smyrna seems to have
gotten his slave labor in Third World countries dismantling used battery information from some pro-oil, “energy policy”, propaganda website.
Both of you need to examine how our new hydrogen future is always 10-
20 years out. This from hydrogen experts. These engineers always have just a few more kinks to hammer out. At what point do you not realize you are only accepting
more fertilizer as fact?
I’ve commented on this site for years. Not an employee of Tesla nor any car company. I am a very satisfied owner of a 2012 Chevy Volt.
@james
I use an app called swype. It’s not a perfect app, as it chooses the wrong word often. Usually, I proof read before posting… if I think it’s important.
Glad you like your Volt. It’s a beautiful, efficient auto. I feel the same about the Cruze diesel I just bought. It’s a tight, right, little vehicle.
Just as there are many different ways to knowledge, there are many different ways to respect our mother earth. As Eric said… This issue has many ways for resolution, but I have to add… Nothing in excess, and moderation, are usually the remedies to many of our ills.
May you have many happy miles with your volt.