Hydrogen fuel cells are advancing faster than GM can produce clean vehicles
February 19, 2016GM makes note of the rapid advancement of fuel cell technology
General Motors is lagging behind other automakers when it comes to launching fuel cell vehicles and this may be due to the speed at which fuel cell technology is advancing. Charlie Freese, executive director of global fuel cell activities for General Motors, notes that the company can produce a fuel cell vehicle, but it would do so with “antiquated” propulsion units. This would harm the automaker’s ability to compete with others in the growing clean transportation space.
Honda is helping GM develop advanced fuel cells for use in new vehicles
Honda, one of the world’s largest automakers, is preparing to launch its second generation fuel cell vehicle, called the Clarity FCV, with other companies having already released their own vehicles equipped with hydrogen fuel cells. Honda has been working with General Motors to improve fuel cell technology and these efforts seem to have been progressing steadily. General Motors is currently considered the leading force in the research and development of fuel cell technology and the company has seen this technology advanced more quickly than it had anticipated in the past.
Even 2016 prototype vehicle is considered out of date
General Motors notes that it has had a propulsion system suitable for fuel cell vehicles since 2010. The reason this system was never used is because the fuel cell technology of today is already considered outdated. According to Freese, the 2016 prototype fuel cell vehicle that General Motors has been testing is now antiquated. The company must find a balance between advancing fuel cell technology and releasing a vehicle that uses this technology in order to find success.
Lack of infrastructure makes it difficult for fuel cell vehicles to find success
While the automaker sees great promise in clean transportation, the company is somewhat concerned about how fuel cell vehicles will fare in prominent markets without a comprehensive hydrogen fuel infrastructure in place. California is considered home of the most well established hydrogen infrastructures in the United States, but this infrastructure is considerably smaller than what would be considered viable to secure the success of fuel cell vehicles.
The cost of hydrogen powered cars should not be a problem because it should be subsidised by the government due to the following reasons:
It is not only wrong but misleading to say carbon tax or zero carbon.It should be sulphur tax and zero sulphur.
We know that the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat comes from the process of photosynthesis by planet leaves which takes atmospheric CO2 from the air and turns it to oxygen and food.Such process becomes slow or inhibited in the presence of acidic gases (SO2 and nitrogen dioxide). So that hydrogen based economy is something that the government should support and subsidized in order to avoid Doomsday due to the increase of SO2 and nitrogen oxides in air due to the combustion of fossil fuel.
The other problem is that everyone is happy is that during fog , rain or snow events which is supposed to washout or remove atmospheric CO2 from the air. But again a process called acid rain stop or slow the washout or removal of atmospheric CO2 by fog , rain droplets and snow.
Acidic gases such as SO2 is the bad culprit responsible for acid rain.
If the government does not want forthcoming Doomsday in the next century then hydrogen based economy is the only solution.
Who said that the dinosaurs vanished because of large Meteorite that impacted the earth 100 of millions years ago.We know that the oil that is buried underground of Alberta came from the decomposition of the dinosaurs after they were buried underground. Petroleum engineers of Alberta know that the oil underground contains sulphur ( about 4 to 5 percent). This sulphur was the reason for the disappearance of the dinosaurs. This happen before and killed and buried the dinosaurs and it is going to happen again. The increase of acidic gases such as sulphur dioxide is going to kill us.
It’s about time GM embrace fuel cell technology for real or they will be severely penalized… They had a great program but not sure what happened within GM? I think Bob Lutz had a lot to do with reducing GM’s exposure?