In what it says is an important milestone for an alternative zero-emissions vehicle technology, GM announced that hydrogen fuel cell production kicked off today at the joint facility it operates with Honda at the Brownstown Battery Assembly Plant in Brownstown, Michigan.
GM says the site is using automated systems in the assembly of membrane electrodes and fuel cell stacks to maximize productivity and quality in the manufacture of the hydrogen fuel cells.
The operation, which has been dubbed Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, LLC or FCSM, has ownership split evenly between The General and Honda. FCSM vice president Tetsuo Suzuki says “we integrated the strengths of Honda and GM to create the most capable production system at this joint venture,” which GM claims is the first full-scale manufacturing facility for automotive hydrogen fuel cells.
Economies of scale in production are expected to drive down the cells’ cost, as are new, more advanced fuel cell designs that use fewer precious metals while utilizing readily available components wherever possible. The General says the resulting fuel cell is roughly 33 percent cheaper than the ones used in the 2019 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell.
The hydrogen fuel cells now in mass production at Brownstown Battery are said to be not only more affordable but also twice as durable as previous designs and flexible enough for multiple commercial applications. The process to reach this point began a decade ago in 2014 when the two automakers inked a hydrogen fuel cell partnership aimed at reducing research, development, and manufacturing costs by pooling their know-how and resources.
The partners invested $85 million in the FCSM facility in 2017, a sum later augmented by a $2 million grant from the state government of Michigan. Honda announced the upcoming launch of a FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle) compact crossover that would compete against the Chevy Equinox EV in late 2022. Since then, it has been revealed that GM jointly developed the hydrogen fuel cell powertrain to be used in the crossover.
The new fuel cells have improved operating characteristics at low temperatures and are made with corrosion-resistant materials. The General says the cells will “be utilized in a variety of zero-emissions propulsion and energy management applications.”
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Comments
Automakers are changing and no one should presume that only one technology will be adapted. EV may work better in regions like China where rare earths are more plentiful. Hydrogen may be a better answer for other areas.
We may end up moving away from world carts with some automakers choosing not to be global instead focusing on one technology.
Honda and GM will probably one day merge. Even their vehicle design now looks similar
This is all well and good, but I smell a government mandate.
Have you seen the pollution at the ports alone. It’s definitely needed. Much in the way of diesel fuel this will trickle down as well once the infrastructure gets built out.
Sorry but hydrogen is nasty stuff.
If you’re NASA or an industrial facility, you have the resources to mitigate the leaks and embrittlement. But in a consumer product that needs to be foolproof for life of the vehicle? Not even close.
Now, hydrogen bonded with something might indeed have potential. But high-pressure or liquid H2 by itself? Sorry, no.
@other side…wow liquid fuel cells are dangerous didn’t we know all about that last century aka the 20th century. Who knows what the future holds but something as dangerous as liquid H2 wouldn’t be allowed by governments anyway.
gm logo looks like crap… go back to the GM Logo when it meant something…
ENOUGH….with the conspiracy theories GM and Honda are working together let’s hope much good fruit comes from this! Companies should be working together instead of at each other’s throats for profit!