General Motors has ruled out producing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle for public consumption in the near future, instead choosing to focus its efforts on battery-electric vehicles.
CNBC automotive reporter Michael Wayland asked GM this week if a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is included in the automaker’s plan to launch 20 electric vehicles by 2023. In response, GM Chief Sustainability Officer Dane Parker said the automaker will focus on “electric vehicles for passenger vehicles and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles for military and commercial uses,” – effectively ruling out a hydrogen-powered GM consumer vehicle for the near future.
.@GM has decided to not produce a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle for consumers as part of its at least 20 new EVs by 2023, GM Chief Sustainability Officer Dane Parker said when discussing the company’s 2020 Sustainability report. https://t.co/kcQoGoUrR2
— Michael Wayland (@MikeWayland) July 16, 2020
As Wayland pointed out in a recent Twitter thread, GM previously said its plan to introduce 20 new all-electric vehicles by 2023 would include at least one fuel cell vehicle for its retail customers, describing the product onslaught as a “two-pronged approach” between battery and fuel ell. It later decided against the production fuel cell vehicle, though, with Parker saying the company “saw the importance of prioritizing our resources, particularly in the U.S. market to electric passenger vehicles.”
While hydrogen is seen as a sort of happy medium between gasoline/diesel and pure electric, adoption of the technology has been slow due to the limited refueling infrastructure. A fleet hydrogen vehicle, say a truck or work van, could potentially sidestep this issue as some companies with large fleets also have their own refueling stations on site.
GM is far from the only company to see the potential hydrogen has in fleet vehicles. Hyundai unveiled a hydrogen-powered Class 8 tractor-trailer concept earlier this year, while Cummins has also teased its own concept hydrogen powertrain for semi trucks, just to name a couple.
GM Defense already has hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle concepts in the way of the Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 and Silverado ZH2. These emissions-free, four-wheel-drive fuel cell pickups were developed so the U.S. Army could determine the viability of hydrogen-powered vehicles on military missions. GM Defense is also working on an unmanned submarine for the army that is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.
“Fuel cells have the potential to expand the capabilities of Army vehicles significantly through quiet operation, exportable power and solid torque performance, all advances that drove us to investigate this technology further,” GM Defense said in a statement released back in 2016.
GM and Honda first put their heads together to develop next-generation hydrogen fuel cell technology back in 2013 and have been collaborating on the project ever since. Honda already has a consumer fuel cell vehicle in production in the way of the Clarity, which is sold in California only and has a range of about 366 miles.
Comments
With hydrogen, in addition to low performance, its just too expensive:
1) High MSRP, despite possible rebates…
2) High fuel costs; per mile is generally twice as much as gasoline…
3) Extremely high maintenance costs; while you may have an iron clad powertrain warranty, it will run out. Furthermore, due to the limited production #s, don’t be surprised if after your bumper to bumper expires, repairing your A/C costs four times the cost of an ICE car…
4) High insurance due to expensive repair costs…
You know……those headlights really look like the Hummer headlights in the teasers…..I’m hoping to god it doesn’t look like the face of this thing
Hydrogen powered vehicles never caught on in the United States because it is simply not practical especially as there are possibly 1-2 sources for Hydrogen fuel which means you can’t just drive off and expect to find another hydrogen fuel facility.
Will the next gen Colorado looks like this ZH2? It looks great.
Glad to hear. Hydrogen for for Mass Market makes zero sense. The Infrastructure would be insanely expensive and would take forever to implement. So easy to just add Charging Ports everywhere.
Any vehicle with an onboard generator will be better than an EV every time. Hydrogen could take off as it would require a big industrial effort similar to oil which is heavily subsidized. Which equals jobs for everyone and the current distribution system can stay in place. Full EV’s are the cheaper route for automakers. Motors and batteries which most do not design as the technology is old (unless one is talking solid state batteries). So easy money.
Front is awesome……….rear is Hideous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hydrogen is the solution long term since it’s the most common element in the universe and powers the whole universe. Question is how fast to merge hydrogen infrastructure into the present system. Technology is all there its just education and political will. Yes it doesn’t make any sense for GM to build these today as there isn’t any infrastructure except in California. However these cheap EV’s like Tesla-BEV’s suffer from a HUGE problem which cannot be overcome-RANGE. Plus in cold weather watch how their stated range drops by at least 50%! I live in MN is today it’s below zero so good luck with your EV’s today. My 2007 Equinox 3.4 liter with 4wheel drive traction control etc. has a full tank of gas and a lot more range than any EV plus refills in minutes! Cost about 24K when new and still looks brand new. Elon Musk’s rockets use hydrogen but they seem to blow up a lot plus his cars got recalled for defective screens? Stick in the hydrogen pumps like they did with Ethanol! I actually worked at GM down in Brazil when they converted to Ethanol back in the 80’s-no big deal. Biden etc. don’t know anything and I want one of those pick ups. GM has good people but nice but not very smart independent executives. USA needs to get rid of lobbyists on “K” St. so we could have a real government and maybe those pick ups sooner. You could power your house for days with one of those!