Out of curiosity, are there any promising technologies out there for the storage of hydrogen? How about more efficient generation methods? Have not heard anything about fuel cells that can extract h from other fuels like ethanol. GMs cars are just nifty and all but after all the hype died down, I don?t see as much news on this front. I wonder how many young companies working on hydrogen technologies disappeared with the economic downturn.
The focus has shifted back to battery powered cars and battery technology.
Indeed, GM is still pushing ahead hard with hydrogen as my post this morning. I got a response from GM after I posted this morning on the status of GM’s hydrogen program given pressure to slash costs although the company enjoyed improving sales in June compared to recent months.
What’s below is from Alan Adler with GM’s Advanced Propulsion Infrastructure and Technology Communications. Of course, a lot can change between now and 2015 when the first vehicles are very tentatively scheduled to roll off the assembly line. Here’s his verbatim:
“Project Driveway, the GM demonstration fleet of hydrogen-fueled Chevrolet Equinoxes is approaching 1 million miles of real-world driving by consumers and others. There are more than 100 Equinoxes in operation as part of Project Driveway, which began in November 2007. A fleet of the Fuel Cell Equinoxes will be part of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., and the Shanghai Exposition next Spring in China. Project Driveway is proving we can deliver the performance, family-sized vehicle function, range and fast refueling time that customers demand. We also believe they will eventually compete on cost and durability with other advanced technology solutions. The key now is to work with governments, energy companies and suppliers to get through the cycles of learning required to to make the cost of hydrogen-powered vehicles competitive.
In the big picture, we continue to believe hydrogen is a key to solving the nation’s mid-to-long term issues of energy security, reduced petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions as well as being part of the New GM.”
