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Chevrolet and the US Army Will Introduce a Fuel Cell Colorado Truck Next Month

It is almost one year (well, give or take two months - mostly take) since General Motors and the US Army announced they would be working together on a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.
Chevrolet Colorado 1 photo
Photo: Chevrolet
Back then, though, the information was extremely sketchy. Things haven't changed that much in the meantime as the two partners intend to release the full details with the vehicle's debut, but we do know one very important thing. Instead of building something from the ground up, General Motors will be modifying a Chevrolet Colorado mid-sized pickup truck.

The Army is considering the use of hydrogen fuel cell propulsion on some of its vehicles, and it's obvious to see why. For one thing, fuel cells are used to power electric motors, which means these vehicles would be extremely stealthy - definitely a lot more silent than a rattling diesel engine.

Second, the electric motors provide large quantities of torque at low revs, making them ideal for moving heavy loads. After all, a similar solution (only it used internal-combustion engines as generators) was proposed way back during the Second World War by Porsche, only for Hitler to decline it due to reliability woes.

Finally, the fuel cell would be ideal for producing electricity as well as water out in the field, which could make the units using these vehicles more independent. At the same time, there are a few drawbacks as well, most notably the absence of liquid hydrogen refueling stations all around the world, which means the truck (and any other future vehicles) would have to rely on the Army's supply lines unless fuel cell technology takes off commercially as well during the next years.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, all General Motors and the US Army are doing is to unveil a prototype truck which, according to Green Car Reports, will take place at a meeting of the Association of the United States Army in Washington, D.C. We'll see where it leads from there.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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