Honda & GM to work together on next generation Hydrogen Fuel Cells

GM and Honda have announced they are to work together to develop the next generation of Hydrogen Fuel Cells for vehicles and promote a refuelling infrastructure.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells are, in many ways, the answer to our dependency on oil.

But any future that uses hydrogen fuel cells to power an electric motor in a car means that not only must the fuel cells be more economical to produce than they now are, but that a refuelling infrastructure is developed.

To help achieve that end, Honda and GM have announced that they are to collaborate on developing not just the next generation fuel cells for vehicles but to advance a refuelling structure too.

GM have been developing fuel cells since the 1960s, but the programme gained legs in 2007 with the Project Driveway programme that has seen a total of 119 fuel cell cars on the road driving more than 3 million miles in the meantime.

Equally, Honda has been working hard on fuel cells too, with the FCX Clarity in 2002 and aiming to bring a new fuel cell road car to a wider market by 2015.

Takanobu Ito, Honda CEO, said:

Among all zero CO2 emission technologies, fuel cell electric vehicles have a definitive advantage with range and refueling time that is as good as conventional gasoline cars.

Honda and GM are eager to accelerate the market penetration of this ultimate clean mobility technology, and I am excited to form this collaboration to fuse our leading fuel cell technologies and create an advanced system that will be both more capable and more affordable.

And it’s a very sensible route to go as fuel cells offer all the advantages of a BEV but without the range anxiety; you can refuel a hydrogen fuel cell car as quickly as you can a petrol or diesel one.

Once the automotive world gets a proper handle on fuel cells, the battery electric vehicle will be toast.