General Motors and Honda have formed a joint venture to produce next-generation fuel cell systems at a GM battery pack plant near Detroit that will be used by both companies to create future electric vehicles that rely on hydrogen for power and emit nothing but water from the tailpipe.
The two automakers today announced the formation of Fuel Cell System Manufacturing which will mass produce advanced hydrogen fuel cell systems starting around 2020. The venture will create 100 jobs within GM’s battery pack manufacturing site in Brownstown, Michigan. GM and Honda are splitting the $85 million investment of the joint venture.
It was back in July 2013 that the two automakers announced an agreement to work on a new and affordable fuel cell system and hydrogen storage technologies that can be mass produced to reduce cost. They would pool their resources as leaders in fuel cell technology and use common parts in an effort to make it more commercially viable.
“Over the past three years, engineers from Honda and GM have been working as one team with each company providing know-how from its unique expertise to create a compact and low-cost next-generation fuel cell system,” said Toshiaki Mikoshiba, president of Honda North America. “This foundation of outstanding teamwork will now take us to the stage of joint mass production of a fuel cell system that will help each company create new value for our customers in fuel cell vehicles of the future.” He said Michigan was chosen for the production site because the U.S. is the largest market for fuel cell vehicles.
Honda began delivery of its all-new Clarity Fuel Cell vehicle to U.S. customers in December following a spring 2016 launch in Japan. The Clarity Fuel Cell offers an EPA-estimated range of 366 miles and fuel economy rating that is the equivalent of 68 mpg. It is a low-volume vehicle for lease at this point. Expect Honda to move faster in using the technology in retail vehicles while GM pursues other applications.
GM’s Charlie Freese said the next-generation fuel cell system represents a “dramatic step toward lower cost, higher-volume fuel cell systems.” Precious metals have been reduced dramatically and a fully cross-functional team is developing advanced manufacturing processes simultaneously with advances in the design, said the executive director of Global Fuel Cell Business. “The result is a lower-cost system that is a fraction of the size and mass.” He said the plant will scale capacity to meet demand as it grows with manufacturing modules that can handle high volumes in the future. The cost of a fuel cell stack will still be higher than a gasoline engine in 2020 but the building blocks will be in place to start to close the cost gap and the technology will use less platinum and other expensive materials, he said.
GM has been testing the technology in a number of applications as work continues to bring fuel cells closer to becoming a mainstream powertrain, said Mark Reuss, GM’s head of Global Product Development. Their use in passenger vehicles “will create more differentiated and environmentally friendly transportation options for consumers.”
But Reuss said GM is not limiting its thinking to passenger vehicles–although that is part of the plan eventually, especially for fleet vehicles. Expect a lot of work in areas such as military and aerospace. GM has an ongoing partnership with the U.S. Army, including the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center. Since 2013 GM and TARDEC have worked to develop better designs and materials for fuel cell system components. GM and the U.S. Army developed the Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 fuel cell vehicle which is being field tested this year. It also has an Exportable Power Take-Off unit that can power equipment in remote areas. GM is also working with the U.S. Navy on systems to power unmanned underwater vehicles.
Working together should speed development of an affordable system, said Takashi Sekiguchi, chief operating officer of Honda’s Automotive Operations.
GM and Honda have more than 2,220 patents between them, according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index.
The joint venture will be run by a board of directors with three executives from each company. It will also involve a rotating chairperson and the appointment of a president to rotate between each company.
The two companies will also work with governments and others to promote a wider infrastructure of hydrogen stations for the new fuel cell vehicles under development. Fuel cell vehicles can operate on hydrogen made from renewable sources such as wind and biomass. There are about 30 hydrogen stations in California today with plans to increase to 100 by 2020.
Toyota has long been a proponent of fuel cell vehicles and started selling the Mirai FCV last year. But Toyota’s chairman said recently that the technology could take longer to catch on because of the limited infrastructure—there are not many pumps and most are in California. Hyundai offers a Tucson FCV for lease in California and is working on a next-generation vehicle.
There are also concerns about whether the initiatives will gain as much traction under the Trump Administration.
Past GM-Honda collaborations include the use of a Honda V-6 engine in the Saturn Vue back in 1999, and Honda has used diesels from GM’s Isuzu affiliate.
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