GM making significant progress towards affordable hydrogen-powered vehicles

While there is a lot of hype around GM’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, GM is out to remind us that it is still making progress on its fuel-cell vehicle program. The Detroit automaker said that it is making significant developments towards building advanced hydrogen fuel-cell designs that will result in more affordable hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Currently, GM’s Project Driveway, which was launched in 2007, consists of more than 100 Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell electric vehicles.

“The vehicles were hand-built, making them very expensive, but the builds helped establish a new supplier community and resolved many technical challenges,” said GM’s Executive Director, Fuel Cell Activities Charles Freese.

“It is still expensive, but the costs are coming down dramatically,” Freese said. “Our next-generation fuel-cell architecture is 220 pounds lighter, uses about half the parts and roughly a third of the precious metals, compared to the still impressive [Chevrolet] Equinox demonstration vehicles.”

– By: Omar Rana

Source: GM FastLane Blog