General Motors Announces New Commercial Applications Of Hydrotec Fuel Cell Technology
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General Motors has announced it is developing new commercial applications for its Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell technology that will expand its use beyond vehicles.
GM is currently working on a variety of commercial Hydrotec power generators, all of which will be powered by the automaker’s second-generation hydrogen fuel cell cubes. These include a mobile power generator (MPG) to provide fast-charging capability for EVs without having to install a permanent charge point, along with a palletized mobile generator to power military camps and other military outposts. The palletized generator is currently being evaluated by the U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) for potential future field use.
“These fuel cell generators could ultimately replace gas- and diesel-burning generators with fewer emissions at worksites, buildings, movie sets, data centers, outdoor concerts and festivals,” the automaker said in a statement. “They could also back up or temporarily replace grid-sourced electricity for residential and small commercial enterprises at times of power disruption.”
GM EMPOWER Charging Station
The automaker also announced its ‘EMPOWER’ rapid charger this week, which will utilize Hydrotec fuel cubes to help retail fuel stations add affordable DC fast charging without having to expand their physical power grid. GM says the 150 kW EMPOWER charger features eight Hydrotec fuel cell cubes and would be able to DC fast charge up to four vehicles at one time. More than 100 EVs could be charged using the station before the internal hydrogen tanks would need topping up.
In addition to being used at retail fuel stations, GM says its EMPOWER charger could also be set up “along corridors frequented by travellers only part of the year, such as near national parks or vacation destinations.”
Palletized GM Hydrotec mobile power station
GM’s hydrogen-powered generators would not only be more powerful and more eco-friendly than a gas or diesel generator, but would also produce less noise and a smaller heat signature. The automaker says it could offer generators with power outputs ranging from 60 kW all the way to 600 kW.
Hydrogen mobile GM EV charger
Lastly, the California Energy Commission said this week it would fund a demonstration program featuring four additional General Motors hydrogen generators through its Mobile Renewable Backup Generation Systems program. This program will attempt to show how hydrogen-powered mobile generators could help offset the loss of energy during the state’s planned power shutoffs, which are used to mitigate wildfires throughout the state and cut back on energy overconsumption.
GM expects to demo certain versions of its hydrogen mobile generator systems by mid-2022.
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Poor investment. With Texas, New Hampshire and West Virginia taking a stand against Blackrock holdings, it’s unlikely this eletric future will happen.
Where does the hydrogen required to power these units come from?? Current technology requires either large quantities of natural gas or large quantities of electricity to produce the hydrogen. Depending on which technology is used the current cost to produce it is the gasoline equivalent cost of $7.50 to $10.00 per gallon. Then it has to be transported in a special tanker since the hydrogen is at 10000 psi. Why not just run a natural gas generator at the site and skip all these expensive steps?
I can produce hydrogen at home easily using solar generated electricity. I cannot make natural gas. If an average citizen can make hydrogen, surly it can me made commercially if their is a will.
Of course you can make solar generated electricity, however, the question is how much electricity is required to make a usable quantity of hydrogen. To use electricity to make hydrogen a process called electrolysis is required. Theoretically (at 100% efficiency) it requires about 39 Kw/Hr of electricity to make 1 kg of hydrogen. In actual practice the best efficiency number that has been achieved in a commercial-type application is about 75%. This calculates to about 52 kw/hrs of electricity being required to produce 1 kg of hydrogen (equivalent to about 1 gallon of gasoline). At the national average cost of about $.125 / kw/hr this equates to about $6.50 worth of electricity to make 1 kg of hydrogen. In addition to that electricity additional electricity is required to power a pump to compress the hydrogen to 10000 psi and then more electricity again to refrigerate the hydrogen after it is pressurized (it gains a lot of heat during the pressurization process).
To close the loop on your comment, solar / wind electricity is actually more expensive than conventionally-generated electricity due to the high initial component cost, electricity storage costs (batteries) and required maintenance. This is verified by Germany’s experience with renewable power over the last 20 years as the average electric cost in Germany today is $.305 / kw/hr.
Not to mention the compression of hydrogen for transport and the fact that solar panels are 25% thermally efficient and will need replaced after 20 years with significant performance loss after 10
Yes Solar panels are ‘Inefficient’, but then again, in the Southwest U.S. the sun’s rays are prolific.
Hydrogen at this point seems to me to be much more trouble than its worth…
And then, if all this is to alleviate silly concerns over Greenhouse Gasses, they should first drain the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans since by far the most important Greenhouse Gas (93% of the effect) is water.
The bottom line the way I see it is that it’s going to very hard for us Americans to change our way of life from gas and fossil fuels to EV, hydrogen… If it where not for Telsa nobody would probably care about electric vehicles.
The only efficient way to make hydrogen would be to utilize the same 300 MW Bechtel A1B PWR nuclear reactors, HEU 93.5% installed on the Carrier CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford. These could be operated on retired US Military bases by qualified navy military or cleared navy military retirees. The efficiency of these very small foot print units would make hydrogen production very practical. The same electrical production would also easily run the compressors for shipping.
Who wants to live around a bunch of amateurs making, compressing, storing, and transferring hydrogen? Firefighters beware!
Janet that is a point…..
There have explosions at Hydrogen Dispenseries and also Hydrogen Generation plants feeding the dispenseries due to slip-shod construction that should not be used around such dangerous pressures.
This is why hydrogen should be used on commercial side only like trucks, locomotives and small villages. The misuse of it leads to bad results.
Wrong
Note to the Editor:
Your computerized editor sucks, which is a shame since it used to work.
»a mobile power generator (MPG) to provide fast-charging capability for EVs without having to install a permanent charge point,«
Nice, this spares the wrecker to tow the BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) to the next charging point, when the BEV’s battery runs out of power, on the road.
But why not install the fuel cell itself in the car instead of a huge and heavy battery?