Learn all the details about the realities of a hydrogen fuel cell auto in this “Everything” video featuring the production 2016 Toyota Mirai. Now, GM has teamed up with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC) to build out a special pickup truck that addresses both of those challenges.
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The high torque of the electric drivetrain is expected to deliver excellent off road performance, while the fuel cell can also be used to provide power for equipment in remote locations.
Chevrolet provided the teaser image sketch above, previewing a radical Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck utilizing the automaker’s latest in fuel cell technology.
“The potential capabilities hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can bring to the Warfighter are extraordinary, and our engineers and scientists are excited about the opportunity to exercise the limits of this demonstrator”.
As an alternative “green” auto option, fuel cell technology competes with electric vehicles such as Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model S, Ford’s (NYSE:F) Focus Electric and BMW’s i3.
GM and TARDEC have fuel cell development and research facilities located 20 minutes apart in Pontiac and Warren, Mich. The two collaborate to evaluate new fuel cell designs and materials, and TARDEC’s state-of-the-art facility enables it to test and integrate fuel cell systems it has been developing for more than a decade. “FCVs are very quiet vehicles”.
In July, the company said they had, as a group, run over 3 million miles (5 million km) through every kind of weather, “proving that fuel cells can meet the demands of real-world drivers”.
Unlike conventional powertrains, hydrogen fuel cell propulsion does not use petroleum or produce carbon dioxide emissions.
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It has also been working since 2013 with Honda to co-develop the next generation of fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems, with a target of 2020 for commercialising the technology, despite still-high vehicle costs and lack of infrastructure for distributing and replenishing the hydrogen fuel. The only by-product is water vapor from the tailpipe.
