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GM And Supplier Planning Hydrogen Fuel Cell Plant In Detroit

General Motors (GM) and Piston Automotive are in the planning stages to construct a new hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing plant in Detroit. If completed, the facility will be GM’s first standalone plant dedicated to hydrogen fuel cell production. The plant is expected to create roughly 50 assembly jobs at launch, plus a range of supporting positions, with the potential to grow to 300 jobs as production scales.

A GM hydrogen fuel cell.

Per a report from Crain’s Detroit Business, the new facility will be located at the former State Fairgrounds along Eight Mile Road, and includes a 292,550-square-foot building. The entire building will be leased and operated by Piston Automotive, a contract manufacturer owned by former Detroit Pistons NBA player Vinnie Johnson.

“It’s great to have a new technology in the city we’re from,” said GM chief economic development and real estate officer David Massaron in an interview with Crain’s Detroit Business. “To us it’s a really exciting investment not only to the future of our company but also an investment in the city, and we’re really proud of it.”

While GM previously collaborated with Honda to produce fuel cells at a 70,000-square-foot facility in Brownstown Township, this new Detroit facility would only produce fuel cells, while the Brownstown plant also produces additional components.

That said, the Detroit project is still in its early stages, with production not expected to begin for several years. A special land use permit will be required before the factory can move forward with construction. Additionally, local residents have raised concerns about potential noise and pollution, but developers have assured the community that the facility will produce minimal pollution due to the clean nature of hydrogen technology.

The strategic location of the new hydrogen fuel cell facility places it near a key logistics hubs, including a massive 3.8-million-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center, plus a Target “sortation” warehouse.

Piston Automotive has a history with GM, with the former previously contracted to operate a “value-added assembly” plant located at the former Palace of Auburn Hills site following a major $278 million investment. The investment at the former Palace of Auburn Hills site is expected to create 960 new jobs.

Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. Momolos

    Hydrogen Lol

    When will they stop trying HaHa

    Reply
    1. Bill Howland

      Hi Momolos :

      Yeah this is just great – like when the $14 / Kilogram Hydrogen dispensary Shell had throughout California decided to get out of the business, and the remaining vendors now charge an unheard of $28/ Kilogram.

      So the car goes from costing 3 times as much to run as an electric vehicle to 6 times as much, and you only have to stand in line at a Hydrogen filling station a few hours every few days since the 10,000 pound-per-square-inch dispensary compressors either are broken down, or for some other reason waiting for parts to repair – so the few remaining stations are overbooked. And then the Fill Nozzles freeze to the car so you have to wait a half hour or so for it to DEFROST so that the hose can be disconnected….

      This is why USED Toyota MIRAIs, either the old or new versions, are selling for just a song….. Only reason people bought them in the first place was 3 years of free fuel, but it is too much of a Pain-In-The-A at this point.

      Reply
      1. Momolos

        There is going to be a class action lawsuit against Toyota for false claims.
        They told buyers they will have a free fuel card but two things happened…..Hydrogen is insanely expensive but more importantly Hydrogen stations are closing down in rapid pace.

        Hydrogen cars made zero sense in the 60’s and guess what, they still do not Lol

        Hydrogen might work for Rail, Airplanes, and Ships. The main reason is that the Hydrogen can be made right sat the Rail yards, ports, and airports. Basically zero transport,

        Imagine for a minute you snap your finger and mandate every Gas Station needs to covert to selling Hydrogen instead. What a complete and utter nightmare that will be. Lol

        Big Oil is Sooooooooo desperate for it but it will never happen.

        Reply
        1. Bill Howland

          Hear what you are saying Momolos but I have my doubts about ANY transportation use……

          You won’t see many LNG tankers bound for Europe or China using anything other than Methane Spark-Ignited engines since it basically runs on ‘free fuel’ – as the LNG warms it boils off a bit of it so they figure they might as well use it to power the ship.

          Meanwhile Cruise Ships and SuperTankers run on Diesels powered by Ultra Cheap Bilge Fuel, since the very low speed engines are designed to handle this next-to-worthless fuel.

          Airlines? Kerosene (aka Jet Fuel or #1 Fuel Oil) is the least of their problems lately.

          Reply
          1. Momolos

            I was just trying to think of any Transportation sector that could potentially use Hydrogen.

            Reply
  2. Mike Angove

    Open plea to GM: Ignore the anti-H2 feeding frenzy and *just do it*. Pitch FCEVs to middle-Americans as an alternative to BEVs. There is pent-up demand for green transportation that doesn’t require lugging around a 1200lb battery and all the charging hassles and limitations (eg cold temps) that come with them. But whatever you do, take a page out of Musk’s playbook and focus on refueling infrastructure. Perfect it. Make it easier than filling up with gasoline. Be prepared for operating loses initially. But give it a chance to gain traction. If it doesn’t, you’ve lost nothing. It’s not as if your BEVs are flying off lots.

    Reply
    1. rEVolutionary

      You realize h2 fuel cells are pretty heavy right?

      And h2 is never going to be as easy as filling at a gas station. You are dealing with high pressure, highly flammable gas, at extreme cold temperatures.

      H2 is also just always going to be expensive to produce and store.

      The refilling stations are only quick for the first car, then have to depressurize.

      Recharging a battery is simple. And for most of the time, you simply plug in when you get home and not worry about it. Full charge when you wake up.

      GM also just announced a new LFP battery developed with CATL and SAIC that can do 10%-80% in 10minutes.

      Reply
      1. billj598

        More lies from a bought and paid for EV lobbyist or fan-boy. You are clueless about the H-fueled IC car already made as a one-off that simply loads pre-filled canisters of H into the rear fascia of the vehicle so your assertion that re-fueling with H will never be as easy is false.
        H will not “always going to be expensive and store.”
        Recharging a battery is time consuming and rapes the earth for the Lithium, Cobalt and Copper needed and
        the Electricity still has to be produced somewhere else since batteries STORE energy and do NOT PRODUCE it How much more costly is this GM battery than already costly Lithium crap ? Do you even know ?

        Reply
  3. rEVolutionary

    H2 will never really be a viable alternative for light duty passenger transportation.

    Perhaps a future for some heavy duty industrial fleet applications. But h2 refueling stations cost a lot to build and maintain and have been notoriously unreliable. And h2 is expensive and highly inefficient from a lifecycle perspective.

    GM though has had a long relationship with H2 fuel cells for power generation and military applications.

    Reply
  4. Fwangi Silonzo

    An Electric Camaro ZL1 would be better off powered by Hydrogen and capacitors in place of . Light weight would be ideal

    Reply
    1. rEVolutionary

      H2 fuel cells are heavy. And the tanks take up a lot of space.

      Reply
  5. billj598

    A small step in the right direction. H is the most comment element in the Universe and employing the new discoveries about how to split the H2O molecule has dramatically decreased the necessary Electricity. A lot of work remains to be done but far better than Lithium Batteries. Recent calculations about the amount of Lithium needed to meet GM’s EV battery plans are incredible. 414,000 tons is currently unattainable. Meanwhile get rid of the Filthy SOCIALIST Tax Credits handed out, at everyone’s expense, to those buying EV’s. If they are so great, they don’t need to be incentivized and drive up everyone else’s Tax Burden.

    Reply
    1. rEVolutionary

      😂 the tax credits going to middle class Americans for EVs pales in comparison to the tax cuts that the 1% and corporations including the fossil fuel industry get. I’m all for stopping corporate socialism and welfare handouts, though and enforcing real market economic policies to ensure corporations are paying society for the externalized cost to the people.

      Reply
      1. billj598

        Lying again ? So called Fossil Fuel ( fossils have nothing to do with Oil ) tax cuts are granted only to those who take big, expensive risks prospecting or exploring for new Oil wells. Once a Well “comes in” the taxes paid on each and every barrel of Oil ever produced from that Well far exceeds any subsidy. Keep ’em coming, it’s fun exposing you.

        Reply
    2. rEVolutionary

      Oh, and you do realize, that current and past h2 projects have been heavily subsidized (or given socialist handouts per your verbiage) to even exist and have still failed?

      H2 just isn’t a viable solution for light duty transportation. And never will be.

      Reply

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