GM Now Sees Hydrogen Cars By 2010 - 2015 - AFP

[hatrack]

Whatever . . .

General Motors Corp. has made major steps in developing a commercially viable hydrogen-powered vehicle and expects it can get the emission-free cars into dealerships in the next four to nine years, a spokesman told AFP.

GM also expects it will be able to "equal or better gas engines in terms of cost, durability and performance" once it is able to ramp up volume to at least 500,000 vehicles a year, said GM spokesman Scott Fosgard.

EDIT

There are still a number of barriers to the commercialization of hydrogen-powered cars. One is the infrastructure cost of building refueling stations. Another big challenge is reducing the cost of obtaining hydrogen itself, which has to be extracted from fossil fuels, such as carbon, or from water.

The International Energy Agency has said that if conditions were right, hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells could play key roles in weaning energy users away from oil, gas and coal. "In the most favourable conditions, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles would enter the market (in mass numbers) around 2025 and power 30 percent of the global stock of vehicles by 2050 -- the equivalent of about 700 million vehicles," the IEA said in a recent report.

EDIT

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/GM_Sees_Hydrogen_Cars_On_Market_By_2010_2015.html

:eyes:

[NNadir]

1. And from where, pray tell, does GM see the hydrogen coming from?

That is a bigger question.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Such a dumb idea

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I see your question and raise you a bigger one..

are they going to foot the bill for the hydrogen infrastructure?

[NNadir]

9. Arnold Schwartenegger runs his Hummer on hydrogen.

This is proof of something. What, I'm not sure.

[Postmanx]

2. Great news

Hydrogen is the most abundant element on the planet, when burned, its chief emission is, wait for it... H2O.

Now if only the H cars look a little bit better than all the other crap coming from GM.

[Strelnikov_]

7. Um, Yea, But It Always Seems To Be Attached To Some Other Element

kinda making its value as an energy source, well, um, moot?

Why invest 5 parts energy input for a yield of 1 part H energy when you could simply use 1 part input energy to yield 1 part ethanol energy (as an example).

Seems like H as an energy carrier would simply result in throwing away 4 units of energy for every 1 unit of H energy carrier.

[FloridaPat]

5. Wasn't it GM last year drove a hydrogen car across the country?

Someone did. GM is the one that literally buried their solar electric cars before they could be sold.

[rfkrfk]

8. so what, I could do it with propane, natural gas, etc ..n/t

[Strelnikov_]

6. GM Should Try This

1) Consult with hobbyists who have converted Geo Metros to electric.

2) Fire up assembly lines building electric Geo Metros.

3) Enjoy profits when these things fly off the lots in a couple of years when gas is $10/gal, if it can be found at all.

Limited range (50-60 mi.), no frills, inexpensive as possible.

[4dsc]

10. What a pipe dream

what really pisses me off about this article, is the fact that the average joe will look at it and then ignore the current oil depletion problem this country is facing.. They will say "see", we can have a hydrogen future and everything will turn our rosey when the oil is gone.. What BS!!