A little while ago without much fanfare or hullabaloo, General Motors and Honda built a factory in the suburb of Detroit called Brownstown, very close to the banks of Lake Erie.
Detroit is of course, the spiritual home of the US car manufacturing industry. Now that very same factory has began shipping their new engines based on hydrogen fuel cell technology in a test of whether Hydrogen powered vehicles could be the saner replacement for hydrocarbon engines and thus reach mass-market success.
A hydrogen engine has so many advantages over EVs, after all, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the atmosphere and only produces water when you burn the stuff.
But it has failed to catch on largely due to the cost of the engines in the first place—and let us remember that the EV revolution has run out of steam largely due to the relative cost of the car when compared with the more traditional Internal combustion engine. However, despite government subsidies as of yet they have not made the hoped-for break through.
The companies have invested about USD85million in a 70,000 square foot factory with a plan for Honda to offer them as an option in their new CR-V model before the end of this year. There is also a plan to use them as generators amongst others.
Honda is also planning to develop a range of trucks with fellow Japanese car maker, Isuzu. GM for now is only eyeing to supply to other truck makers that specialise in heavy plant and in particular, mining equipment under the brand Hydrotec.
Apparently, there is demand out there from rival manufacturers with Hyundai, Toyota, Stellantis and Daimler Trucks all looking for an alternative to electric vehicles to meet new clean air standards that threaten combustion engines.
The advantage of Hydrogen is that it can deliver the required power needed to haul heavy loads without the need to power-off for half the day to refuel. In other words, do things that batteries cannot.
Honda’s fuel cell is very different. It doesn’t actually burn in the engine. Rather, the hydrogen is pumped at pressure through a fuel cell stack which transforms the fuel’s chemical energy into electricity. This electricity in turn, powers the cars electric motors. The only exhaust is water.
For now though, the lack of refuelling infrastructure threatens to derail the initiative. GM and Honda are aware of this and are currently trying to work with organisations that have central refuelling capabilities such as bus fleets and mining outfits.
For now it sure looks like the EV era was a short lived one.
