GM has been working on fuel cells for decades, and has done demonstrations, but now those fuel cells, developed with Honda Motor Co., will be sent into real-world applications. The automaker foresees both technologies as avenues to a zero-emissions future as it continues to make internal-combustion vehicles for at least the next decade.
And what's developed and tested in this lab will go directly into what's built at the manufacturing joint venture operation, Fuel Cell System Manufacturing LLC, GM operates with Honda in Brownstown Township.
Last year, Hydrotec said its fuel cells would be used on a fleet of Navistar Inc. manufactured trucks that will be piloted this year by J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. Wabtec Corp. then announced it would use fuel cell systems in its locomotives and Hydrotec signed a joint development agreement with Liebherr-Aerospace to work on a hydrogen fuel cell-based electrical power generation system for aircraft.