Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hydrogen, Chevrolet, GM
GM updates us on Project Driveway
Click above for more shots of the GM HydroGen4 fuel cell Equinox
The so-called Hydrogen Economy may still be a very long way into the future, but General Motors cannot be blamed for not doing its part to develop working hydrogen-powered vehicles that are ready for our nation's roadways. For evidence, please see the 500,000 miles that GM's fleet of Hydrogen Equinox fuel cell vehicles have traveled since The General first unleashed its latest hydrogen vehicle into the real world as part of its Project Driveway program. According to Chevrolet, a total of 3,400 individuals have driven its fuel cell Equinox SUVs, including a few of us here at AutoblogGreen. Each one of these drivers has offered his or her opinions to GM's listening ear, resulting in a very refined vehicle and driving experience. Best of all, even if hydrogen vehicles are still very much future-tech, the same principles driving overall vehicle efficiency for this program are migrating down to real-world vehicles like the 2-Mode hybrid SUVs and the upcoming Chevy Volt.
Gallery: First Drive: GM HydroGen4
[Source: GM Fastlane Blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Darry 1:10PM (12/15/2008)
It would cost the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to charge and drive an electric car. The elec to charge the car could be generated by wind or solar partially or in whole. If all gasoline cars, trucks, and suv’s instead had plug-in electric drivetrains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. Jeff Wilson has a fascinating article on his Better Place Blog called "How Much Electricity Does It Take To Replace Gasoline?" you can read it at... http://planet.betterplace.com/profiles/blogs/how-much-electricity-does-it
Reply
Sasparilla 1:24PM (12/15/2008)
Well, if you won't blame GM for wasting hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars on fuel cell vehicles over the last 7 years - then I will. It was and continues to be a reckless waste of money - it started about 8 years ago to provide cover for the US auto companies to kill the electric vehicle programs they had at the time. GM killed their functioning electric EV1 car program (smashed them all even though the customers wanted them), sold the battery patents (Nickel Metal Hydride) to an oil company (really they did - which didn't license the technology for electric car size applications thereafter , interesting eh?) and hopped onto this perpetual "just a few more years" in the future fuel cell car (fuel cells still costs millions of dollars) - so GM and the rest could just keep on making what they were making (and now we're bailing them out).
Reckless, shortsighted and wasteful (fuel cell vehicles will always be about 30% less efficient than a battery electric as that is the penalty to take sun/power/electricity and split the hyrdrogen from water etc. so you can burn it in a fuel cell instead of putting the current (before splitting) directly in a battery).
Had GM taken that money and put it into follow electric vehicles to the EV1 they had created in the late 90's - they'd have great, functioning and commercially viable battery electric vehicles for sale today (not for $18k, but $30k would be within reason - and that's a market). Lost opportunity through a lack of vision.
Reply
Shipey 8:02AM (12/16/2008)
I heard they used GM trucks to haul away the wreckage of the Roswell incident.
Yeah.