The future of Detroit’s reeling car industry is riding on a new technology already rolling across New York City and its northern suburbs – a vehicle that uses no gas and produces only water from its tailpipe.
General Motors is in the midst of a national test of fuel-cell-powered SUVs, with 100 of the high-tech vehicles tooling around New York, Washington, DC, and suburban Los Angeles in the largest road test of its kind.
So far, the reports from the road are stunning. Drivers say the fuel-cell vehicles, which are modified Chevy Equinoxes, are a marvel to drive. They are powerful, quick and quiet, with no internal combustion engine to pound away under the hood.
“If it came out in showrooms, I’d buy it in a heartbeat,” said Tony Wan, who is part of the test and drives about 40 miles a day, including three to four trips a week into Manhattan from his home in Hastings, Westchester County.
“There really hasn’t been any downside. The only tough part is fueling up when there are three people ahead of you. Then it takes a little extra time,” said Wan, who uses a hydrogen fueling station set up by General Motors in Westchester County.
While fuel-cell vehicles hold the promise of a transportation revolution, there are still two enormous hitches: the cost of producing the vehicles and the extremely limited street availability of hydrogen.
GM hasn’t said how much the experimental cars cost to make, but estimates have put the price tag at close to $1 million each – a price engineers say will plummet with advances in technology and a move to mass production
Coming up with fuel-efficient and alternative energy cars is a key concern of President-elect Barack Obama, who is being lobbied to back a multibillion-dollar bailout of the near-bankrupt US automakers.
But some experts say General Motors’ decade-old push for fuel cells is reaching too far too soon. The more achievable technology is a plug-in hybrid vehicle that can run off batteries for up to 40 miles before tapping a gasoline generator.
“Ten years ago, GM bet the house on hydrogen fuel cells and gave short shrift to hybrid vehicles, said Roland Hwang, vehicle policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
While GM says it should have fuel-cell vehicles available by 2015, Hwang said it would probably take a decade longer to produce an affordable car and create a reasonable network for fueling.