GM is growing a fleet of hydrogen-powered medium-duty vehicles for a DOE pilot

Normal Motors will launch a fleet of medium-duty vehicles operating on hydrogen gas cells as a part of a pilot venture sponsored by the U.S. Division of Power. The objective is to show the capabilities of hydrogen, essentially the most plentiful factor within the universe, as a viable various to diesel automobiles.

“We are going to design, engineer and develop a fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell medium-duty vehicles,” mentioned Jacob Lozier, GM's venture lead, “to exhibit how the effectivity and energy of our gas cells will translate to real-world fleets.” Might help clients. ,

Improvement of the vehicles will obtain funding from DOE's SuperTruck program, which goals to cut back carbon emissions amongst heavy- and medium-duty automobiles. The entire venture will price $65 million, of which $26 million will come from DOE, and GM and its companions will present the remaining.

The vehicles will share an exterior design with right this moment's Chevy Silverado 5500 medium-duty vehicles. However beneath the hood, they’ll run on hydrogen gas cells developed by GM's HydroTech division. The automaker is engaged on a number of different hydrogen-related initiatives, together with cellular energy turbines, cement mixers and heavy-duty automobiles. GM additionally has a three way partnership with Honda to develop hydrogen gas cells for varied merchandise.

GM will ship gas cell vehicles to Southern Firm, an Atlanta-based fuel and electrical utility, to be used as store automobiles for its worksites. The automaker additionally envisions the vehicles getting used for farming operations and municipal companies. GM may even work with Nel ASA utilizing the Norwegian firm's PEM electrolyzer in an effort to make hydrogen extra sustainable.

Hydrogen gas cells use compressed hydrogen as their gas, releasing water vapor as their solely emission. Many automakers have lately seized on the expertise for its benefits within the growth of professional quality automobiles and cellular energy turbines – and as a approach to transfer away from polluting gas-powered automobiles and meet their very own local weather objectives. In type of.

The vitality content material of hydrogen is low relative to quantity, making hydrogen storage a problem because it requires excessive stress, low temperatures, or chemical processes to compactly retailer it. Overcoming this problem is necessary for mild automobiles as they typically have restricted measurement and weight capability for gas storage.

The Biden administration lately proposed new tax tips aimed toward making hydrogen cheaper to provide as a much less polluting various to fossil fuels. The issue, nonetheless, is that almost all hydrogen is made with the assistance of fossil fuels, principally by a course of known as steam methane reforming which produces carbon dioxide emissions. Methane is an much more potent greenhouse fuel than CO2 and is recurrently launched alongside the provision chain from manufacturing to finish use.

However GM says it’s dedicated to cleaner strategies of hydrogen manufacturing when obtainable. “Our strategy proper now’s to sort of be agnostic as to what the sources are,” mentioned Charles Freese, govt director of GM's HydroTech division.

The primary impediment to hydrogen is the just about full absence of refueling infrastructure within the US. In keeping with the Hydrogen Gas Cell Partnership, there are solely 55 hydrogen stations in California — which is mainly all the nation mixed. And refueling might be costly, with the Division of Power estimating the associated fee to exceed $90 per automobile.

“We all know make a hydrogen gas cell,” Freese mentioned, “however demonstrating it as a part of an ecosystem the place you’ll be able to stability the use and utility of vehicles in addition to the provision of hydrogen and the gas. “Beginning. These are all components that we're going to exhibit with this fleet.”