“The improvements the team has been able to achieve are remarkable,” said Charles Freese, executive director of GM Fuel Cell Activities. “Hardware mechanization has been dramatically simplified, which will help reduce cost, simplify manufacturing and improve durability.”
“GM has invested more than $1.5 billion in fuel cell technology and we are committed to continuing to invest, but we no longer can go it alone,” Freese said. “As we approach a costly part of the program, we will require government and industry partnerships to install a hydrogen infrastructure and help create a customer pull for the products.”
General Motors says the fuel cell powertrain has the same dimensions as a four-cylinder engine. The fifth-generation fuel cell stack will hit the market around 2015, the company said in a release.
The German government, together with industrial companies, will build 1,000 hydrogen fueling stations by 2015. This is the time when several carmakers selling cars in Europe will debut hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and offer them to the masses, the US-based carmaker explained. "Earlier, a group of 13 oil and gas companies in Japan announced similar plans," it added.
“Failure to act will insure the U.S. cannot meet its long-term fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction objectives,” Freese said. “We know what needs to be done. Now is the time to get started.”
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