GM drops in-house fuel cell developer Hydrotec
General Motors has been marketing fuel cell systems for a wide range of applications under the Hydrotec label for several years. However, the business is not profitable. GM has announced that it is discontinuing the development of the next generation of hydrogen fuel cells under this brand. GM cites high costs and limited hydrogen infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles in the United States as the reasons for this decision.
“While hydrogen holds promise for specific high-demand industrial applications like backup power, mining, and heavy trucking, the path to reaching a sustainable business in fuel cells is long and uncertain,” GM wrote. It therefore plans to focus its research and development resources and capital on batteries, charging technology and electric vehicles, “which have clear market appeal, rather than hydrogen, whose potential has not yet been realised.”
However, the production of hydrogen fuel cells for data centres and power generation by Fuel Cell System Manufacturing (FCSM), a joint venture between GM and Honda, will continue. The duo began joint FCSM production last year in Brownstown, Michigan. The jointly developed fuel cell systems manufactured there are used by both partners in various applications, including vehicles.
General Motors’ own fuel cell systems, on the other hand, have no future. There have been few customers to date: it was known that Autocar Industries was developing heavy commercial vehicles with GM’s Hydrotec system and that General Motors itself was considering using Hydrotec technology in off-grid charging stations.
This article was first published by Cora Werwitzke for electrive’s German edition
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