General Motors Partners Up With NREL To Develop Fuel Cell Technology
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General Motors has struck a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to help speed up and reduce the cost of developing automotive fuel cell stacks. Many automakers have made great strides in fuel cell development, but deploying the technology on a larger scale will require cost reductions, which has led to the partnership between NREL and GM.
“The goal of this partnership is to help advance fuel cell materials and manufacturing technologies that have the ability to result in improved performance and durability while also meeting cost targets,” explained NREL Group Manager for Electrochemical Engineering & Materials Chemistry, Bryan Pivovar. “Collaborating with GM allows NREL the ability to leverage a knowledge and material base beyond what is publicly available, and ensure the most relevant research areas are being addressed as efficiently as possible.”
GM and NREL will focus on overcoming the challenges faced when developing next-generation fuel cells, which include reducing platinum loading in the cells, achieving higher power densities, understanding the effects of contaminants on fuel cell performance and durability, as well as accelerating the manufacturing process. The joint effort gives GM access to NREL’s state-of-the-art Energy Systems Integration Facility and will also include staff collaboration and the exchange of equipment, knowledge, and materials between the two organizations.
“The Department of Energy has developed significant capability in fuel cell R&D, both in people and equipment, within the national lab system,” said Executive Director of GM’s Fuel Cell Activities, Charlie Freese. “This arrangement provides the framework to efficiently apply the fundamental perspective and tools at NREL to address the real-world development challenges we are currently working to resolve.”
Last year, GM also announced a long-term partnership with Honda to co-develop next-generation fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems. The two automakers are also working together to further advance and grow the refuelling infrastructure, which is critical if the technology is to one day reach mass market levels.
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What about the hundred 2008 Fuel Cell Equinox vehicles that GM was testing?
Interesting development.
Fuel cell technology… Is the future of not only transportation, but electrical generation as well.
FCV’s in the US is probably not realistic. They may have a chance in places like England and Japan. The difference there is that a) they are islands, so cars don’t leave (to area’s without hydrogen fueling stations), and b) they have high density of people per square mile. Japan has 800+ and the UK 600+, while the US has only ~85. This means far fewer Fueling stations required to reach a tipping point. The UK has only 9000 gas stations now, serving ~6000 people per gas station. The US has 121,000+ serving ~2500 each. Therefore the minimum number required to “tip” the US is probably much larger per capita, probably around 10,000 to 20,000, at a cost of 50 Billion dollars, or a quarter of a trillion dollars for the full 121K convenience US consumers have now. Even then, the cars aren’t cheaper, faster, or more convenient to fuel than any of there competitors. Just the opposite, with only 10-20K fuel stations, people are going to be driving much further to tank up. So without a reason to purchase, people won’t. Finally, the one thing that other countries do way better than the US, is work constructively with their government. The US is very laissez-fair, so outside of some incentive packages, the US is likely to go with whatever the private sector can comes up with. Since the private sector isn’t going to risk that amount of cash, they will instead go slow, fail, and watch as people purchase BEV’s instead and tank up at home.