.jpg)
Hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles could be on the road with regular drivers behind the wheel in a few test areas within five or six years, according to a top General Motors official.
Larry Burns, the company's vice-president of research and development, offered the prediction as GM announced it had moved 500 fuel-cell engineers and scientists from the laboratory side of the company into the chain of command that produces cars.
Mr Burns says he's not yet willing to say exactly when hydrogen vehicles will be mass-produced, but that it should happen before 2020, the year many experts have predicted.
“I sure would be disappointed if we weren't there” before 2020 he said at his office in GM's sprawling technical campus in the Detroit suburb of Warren.
GM's recent organisational change shows the company is confident enough in its research to take the step toward making the cars, Mr Burns said.
“We've passed another milestone where we have come far enough in the development of this technology to start preparing for real production.
“That's a very significant milestone in our judgment.”
Mr Burns compared GM's organisational change to when it moved its engineers working on hybrid gasoline-electric power systems from research to production in 2003. GM had no hybrid models on the market then, but now has five, he said.
Hydrogen-powered fuel-cell cars use hydrogen to produce electricity that fuels an electric motor. They are quieter than gasoline engines and their only waste product is water.
Government and industry experts have said many obstacles exist to widespread use of hydrogen-powered cars, ranging from high costs and a lack of fuelling stations to the need for improved storage capacity and better range.
Virtually every automaker is testing hydrogen powered vehicles, with Toyota and Honda considered the furthest along.
GM workers will not physically move from their three U.S. locations and one site in Germany. But Mr Burns said the structural change is important in GM's quest for leadership in the race to bring a fuel-cell electric vehicle into mass production. A small group will stay in research to develop longer-term technology.
The move is more than symbolic, because it shows GM is in transition from the laboratory to production, says Scott Samuelsen, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Centre at the University of California-Irvine.
“They're transitioning out of the trial-and-error stage and moving into the commercialisation stage,” said Mr Samuelsen. “I know their plans are solid, meaning they are not smoke and mirrors.”
GM already has hand-built the Sequel, a hydrogen-powered crossover sports utility vehicle with a range of about 500km. It was driven safely on public roads during a recent trip in upstate New York. But engineers still need to reduce the costs to make fuel-cell vehicles marketable.
The company also plans to place more than 100 fuel-cell powered vehicles with consumers in New York, Washington and Los Angeles later this year.
Mr Samuelsen, whose researchers are helping test three Toyota hydrogen fuel-cell cars, said GM was a little behind Toyota and Honda for fuel-cell leadership, but might take the lead when it sends out the 100 vehicles later this year.
He said the five to six-year time frame for wider testing is realistic, especially given GM's commitment this year.
Once the wider testing areas are set up and engineers can check real-world performance, Mr Burns said he expects fuel-cell vehicles and the necessary filling stations to spread throughout the world.
“If you learn enough and you're encouraged enough, then you go to that next generation and put more vehicles out there. That stimulates more stations. You can broaden your geographical area,” he said.
The obvious benefits are ending dependence on petroleum for transportation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
