15% off XPS M1330 & M1530 laptopsHydrogen-powered Chevys hit the streets
Chevy Equinox fuel cell vehicle
(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)Chevrolet is in the midst of launching "Project Driveway," an ambitious program where more than 100 fuel cell electric vehicles will be put in the hands of select consumers for the largest market test ever of its kind.
Fuel cell power train
(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)Testing will take place over the next several months in the Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., metro areas. Drivers range from average consumers to business owners to policy makers. Chevy reps also promise that some cars will go into the hands of "celebrities," but no names have been dropped yet.
The cars are modified Chevy Equinox crossover SUVs that draw hydrogen from three on-board, carbon fiber tanks to power an electric motor. In addition, a nickel-metal hydride battery pack captures and stores energy from a regenerative braking system to provide extra power when needed. The fuel cell Equinoxes get a range of about 150 miles on a single fill-up with 700-bar hydrogen.
The Equinox fuel cell cars run solely on hydrogen, which, at this point in time, is a drawback for the average consumer. Although we produce 40 billion kilograms of hydrogen globally every year--enough to power 130 million fuel cell-powered cars--hydrogen fueling stations are still scarce.
Interior display
(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)The three test metro areas were chosen, in part, because drivers have access to hydrogen filling stations within a reasonable radius of their homes and/or places of business. General Motors reps say building a hydrogen fueling station infrastructure wouldn't be as difficult as some might think; they say the initial investment of about $10 billion to $15 billion required to put 12,000 stations within two miles of the top 100 urban areas is close to the amount of money being currently spent on maintaining existing oil pipelines and gasoline manufacturing equipment.
The specs for the vehicle aren't overwhelming--it goes zero to 60 in 12 seconds and has a top speed of about 100 miles per hour. But that's still impressive considering the only thing that comes out of the quad exhaust is water vapor.
Carbon fiber quad exhaust
(Credit: Donovan R. Unks)Features include antilock brakes (ABS), driver and passenger front air bags, roof rail side-impact air bags, and StabiliTrak stability system. The cars are also equipped with the OnStar navigation system, which testers are encouraged to use to ask questions and provide feedback as they drive.
But don't get in line at the local Chevy dealership just yet; the test fleet won't be available for sale to the public. However, the information gleaned from this market test will help shape the next generation of fuel cell vehicles, which GM is working on now.
For a further look at the Equinox vehicles, see "Photos: GM's Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell."
Laura Burstein is a freelance automotive and technology journalist, covering news and events ranging from auto shows to Formula One races. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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billions in a network of hydrogen filling stations when an effective
distribution system for electricity already exists: the plugs in our
walls.
Zero emission sounds good, but the the environmental cost has
already been accrued long before the hydrogen gets to the car. its
another case of out of sight, out of mind.
Hell, and these things are expensive! Go ethanol! Bio-fuel up-and-
at-em!
None of these alternative fuel cars will take off fast enough. Some major manufacturer who is not worried about pissing off big oil, needs to release a compressed-air powered vehicle. No expensive/dangerous fuel required, and it can simply compress air as you're driving.
That would be a good way for people to desire an American vehicle again, although i believe true innovation in the clean-car realm will come from overseas.
Hydrogen fuel cells *MIGHT* be a solution for 50 years from now IF we can get our electrical system completely sorted out. If we had cheap, reliable and environmentally friendly electricity in abundance, THEN we could think about hydrogen from electrolysis. Until that time we're MUCH better off focusing on the electrical grid and using plug-in hybrids. They are more efficient, better for the environment (even taking into account generating electricity at coal plants), tend to offer better performance and have a gasoline back-up for long trips when the batteries run dry.
Spending all this money on hydrogen fuel cells just takes away money that could be spent actually solving problems instead of just moving them around.
Hydrogen can be generated by electrolysis of H2O. That can be done with solar generated electricity, from large scale solar farms in the southwest deserts. Multi square mile solar arrays could generate huge amounts of hydrogen with ZERO carbon footprint. An electric motor converts ~95% of input electrical energy to shaft hp. An electric motor only has one moving part, the rotor. IC engines are much more complex and vulnerable to failure by comparison, with high temperatures, corrosive gases and fluids, complex parts such as crankshaft, valves, pushrods, rocker arms, water pump, hoses, radiator, cat converter,oil pump,and many other widgets. The reliability and ease of maintenance of the electric motor would be far simpler and cheaper.
At present we don't know for what electrical energy storage technology will emerge as practical, if any. Some possibilities are fuel cells, new batteries, super capacitors, hydrogen sequestration. If any of these is perfected, the electric car becomes a desirable alternative to the IC engine powered car.
I'll believe it when I see one of those vehicles at a dealer or rolling down my street or even better in my drive way.
Until then, this is a bunch of hype from GM.
They offer such great promise, like the Chrysler turbo in the Sixties and the GM electric lease cars that GM took back and destroyed.
Go away GM an FORD, leave the next generations of great cars to the Japanese! All the profits that you could have put into research just went into your pockets.
You have outlived your usefulness, and if you ever produce any thing that will ever get us off of relying on oil from those Arabs it will be way over priced. Just compare the wages of the executives at the American car companies to the wages of the Japanese car makers.
Greed at the top is killing the Americans!
GO AWAY!
The source is water being converted by electrolisis as it is needed. This is already being done. Search Google with the phrase "water fuel."
sid@hydrogen-motors.com