The Wall Street Journal reported this week that executives from General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., at the Geneva Auto Show Tuesday, "expressed doubts about the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for mass-market production in the near term and suggested their companies are now betting that electric cars will prove to be a better way to reduce fuel consumption and cut tailpipe emissions on a large scale."
Both GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe expressed strong opinions that fuel cells are too expensive and will be for some time and that advances in lithium-ion batteries make them much more practical as a mass-market product. . . . read the WSJ article
in a somewhat related post, the MIT Technology Review has a little more information on GM's BAS+ mild hybrid system that further explains how the Hitachi Li-ion batteries fit in with that system that increase the mileage by 20% and indicates that GM will use about 100,000 of these batteries annually by 2010.
The new battery pack, a lithium-ion pack made by Hitachi, combined with an improved alternator-generator, can deliver three times more power than the company's older system, which used nickel metal hydride batteries. GM claims that this system will be a perfect complement to another fuel-saving strategy: downsizing the engine and adding a turbocharger for bursts of power. The turbocharger doesn't kick in right away, and it doesn't work well at low engine speeds. But the battery and motor kick in right away, compensating for the so-called turbo lag.
That is quite a change in attitude, considering the large amounts of money that these companies and others have spent developing fuel cells for light vehicles. This agrees with my assessment of the technology that I have expressed several times, most recently in my comments on my post EU Research Shows that Hydrogen Energy Could Reduce Oil Consumption in Road Transport by 40% by 2050.
Could the use of Hitachi batteries in their mild hybrids mean that they might not use A123Sytems batteries in the Volt or the Saturn hybrid? I don't think so, but does Hitachi have a better battery or is it just more available in the required time frame or is it just a means of diversifying suppliers.
i wish they would work on this more.
Posted by: run your car on water | April 01, 2009 at 01:44 AM
the car companies need to start working on this more. All they do is talk about it. they need to move forward.
Posted by: run your car on water | April 01, 2009 at 01:47 AM
why is gm doing this.
Posted by: oilfield equipment | April 08, 2009 at 04:47 PM
they need to keep this going.
Posted by: run your car on water | April 10, 2009 at 10:49 PM
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Posted by: HHOGasKitWizad | July 30, 2009 at 02:37 AM
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Posted by: HHOGasKitWizad | August 17, 2009 at 02:01 PM
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Posted by: Scaffold boards | January 12, 2010 at 08:58 AM
Why waste money buying the new fuel cell cars when you can convert your current car to run on hho fuel browns gas.
Posted by: Sheer curtain | January 12, 2010 at 08:58 AM
I think it will take forever for the Gov't to get on board.
Posted by: Angela (phg) | January 12, 2010 at 10:47 PM
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Posted by: kse pakistan | June 15, 2011 at 08:01 AM
Unfortunately I’ve missed this news. I'm sure if the new batteries, lithium-ion pack made by Hitachi, alternator-generator combined with good, can deliver three times more power than the older systems company, which used nickel metal hydride batteries. This idea is very brilliant. I've felt this technology.
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Posted by: Ivan | October 26, 2011 at 02:47 AM
This doesn't seem to be the case anymore, right? I see more hybrids than electric cars...unless they're actually electric and I just didn't know it!
Posted by: Filipino Car Lease Broker Los Angeles | November 23, 2011 at 01:49 PM
Did GM end up using those last year?
Posted by: Dentist Hollywood | November 23, 2011 at 02:28 PM
Did GM end up using those last year?
Posted by: Air Purifier | November 23, 2011 at 03:08 PM
I think I remember seeing they have a Chevy Volt out which is their electric car I guess. I don't know anyone who has one though.
Posted by: Rug Cleaning Los Angeles | November 23, 2011 at 05:15 PM
Toyota doesn't seem to be big into electric, I see more hybrids around than I have in the past couple of years.
Posted by: Therapist New york | November 23, 2011 at 05:40 PM
It's interesting to see these articles a few years after they were written, to see what big car companies like this have actually been up to since these were published.
Posted by: fish tv | November 23, 2011 at 05:51 PM
GM seems to have gone electric and Toyota back to the fuel cells.
Posted by: Furniture Stores in Los Angeles | November 25, 2011 at 07:45 PM