GM will expand fuel cell developments thanks to a partnership with U.S. Army

General Motors and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center are expanding their collaboration in the development of hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Through a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, GM and TARDEC will jointly test new hydrogen fuel cell-related materials and designs to evaluate their performance and durability before assembling them into full scale fuel cell propulsion systems.

This collaborative effort will enable GM and TARDEC to jointly develop technology that meets both of their requirements, accomplishing more tangible results than either entity could achieve on its own. The project is expected to continue for up to five years.[image_frame style=”framed_shadow” align=”center” alt=”GM’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Milestones” title=”GM’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Milestones” height=”400″ width=”550″]https://www.car-engineer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/GM-Fuel-Cell-Milestones.jpg[/image_frame]

“GM welcomes the opportunity to further expand our work with TARDEC developing fuel cell technology,” said Charlie Freese, executive director of GM’s global fuel cell engineering activities. “We believe hydrogen fuel cell technology holds tremendous potential to one day help reduce our dependence on petroleum and we are committed to building on our leadership through the continued development.”

This is the second fuel cell-related announcement GM has made this year. In July, GM and Honda announced a long-term, definitive master agreement to co-develop a next-generation fuel cell system and hydrogen storage technologies, aiming for the 2020 time frame.

GM is currently building a new Fuel Cell Development Laboratory in Pontiac, Mich., where the majority of the company’s fuel cell development work will take place.

TARDEC and GM’s respective fuel cell laboratories are about 20 miles apart, which promotes daily collaboration, and GM and TARDEC engineers are developing extensive plans to share physical material and data between the locations.[image_frame style=”framed_shadow” align=”center” alt=”GM and U.S. Army to Expand Fuel Cell Testing” title=”GM and U.S. Army to Expand Fuel Cell Testing” height=”400″ width=”600″]https://www.car-engineer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/GM-Fuel-Cell-Testing.jpg[/image_frame]

TARDEC opened a new Fuel Cell Research Laboratory located in the recently opened Ground System Power and Energy Laboratory building in Warren, Mich. The state-of-the-art facility enables TARDEC to test and integrate the fuel cell systems it has been developing for military applications for more than a decade.

“The Army continues to investigate technologies and partnerships that give the United States a decisive advantage,” said TARDEC Director Paul Rogers. “Our relationships – like this one with GM – are maturing and accelerating technologies critical to the transportation and energy capabilities of the future.”

Additionally, TARDEC is evaluating GM fuel cell vehicles in a comprehensive demonstration in Hawaii. The technology has possible military applications ranging from ground vehicles to mobile generators.

Fuel cell technology helps address the two major challenges with automobiles today – petroleum use and carbon dioxide emissions. Fuel cell vehicles can operate on renewable hydrogen that can be made from sources like wind and biomass. The only emission from fuel cell vehicles is water vapor.

Source: GM

[titled_box title=”Romain’s opinion:”]

Fuel cell for military application is something largely feasible in a close future as the volumes are pretty low and there is no compromise between cost and feature. Do you think GM will benefit from this partnership? Will GM be able to apply the results of this partnership to high volume production and to automotive market particularities?[/titled_box]

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