General Motors is to give drivers the chance to try out hydrogen-powered vehicles, although it will help if you are a celebrity. As part of “Project Driveway“, GM will put more than 100 fuel-cell vehicles in the hands of customers before the end of the year.
Ironically, the cars will be based on the Chevrolet Equinox SUV. GM says they will initially go to celebrities, policymakers, the military and other “influentials”, but the public can also sign up online.
“We’re going to get feedback from customers to help us understand this market, and that’s going to help set us up, hopefully early in the next decade, to really go to market for real with fuel-cell electric vehicles,” said Larry Burns, vice president of research and development and strategic planning for GM.
The vehicles will be tested in the US, Germany, South Korea, China and Japan. Those countries have been chosen because they have refuelling facilities in place.
“I think you’re going see two or three companies introducing the plug-in hybrid by 2010,” said Joseph Romm of the Center for American Progress and previously responsible for clean transportation programmes at the US Department of Energy. “These cars, like all early model cars, will probably be on the expensive side, but I think there will be a great interest in them.”
Funny, Hydrogen cars are no more ‘efficient’ than gas-burners and when you factor in their immense cost-not just of the cars themselves, but of the h2 fuel for them-their ‘efficiency’ and viability as a ‘replacement’ for cars only looks worse. GM, is such an avid booster of Hydrogen cars, not because they will work as ‘replacements’. but because they WONT. GM knows H2 cars are waste of time and money-which is why they are so enthusiastic about them. They can tinker with them for decades more while still producing crappy and deadly gas-burners that get 12 mpg. As opposed to EVs which work *now* and vastly cheaper and efficent-and EVs have problems of their own-but nothing like the H2 hoaxsters do.
The govt gives money to GM to build cars that will never work so they can pretend they are working on replacements for gas-burners, all the while selling nothing but….gas burners. Nice scam if your on the inside….