GM in fuel cell deal with government
Auto manufacturer says it has inked $88M pact to build fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2009.
March 30, 2005: 9:35 AM EST
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. on Wednesday said it signed an $88 million deal with the Department of Energy to build a fleet of 40 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and further develop the technology.
Under the five-year program, the world's largest auto manufacturer will spend $44 million to deploy fuel cell demonstration vehicles in Washington D.C., New York, California and Michigan.
The Department of Energy will contribute the other half of the program's investment under an agreement that expires in September 2009.
In a separate commercial agreement, Shell Hydrogen, LLC will support GM by setting up five hydrogen refueling stations in Washington, D.C.; New York City; between Washington D.C. and New York; and in California.
Other program partners include the Army at Fort Belvoir, Va., and Quantum Technologies in Lake Forest, Calif. Both will provide facilities for GM to store and maintain fuel cell vehicles.
GM said it is also collaborating with the Department of Defense and would release news on that relationship later this week.
Not sure what good that does since we still need fossil fuels to split water in order to fill up the fuel cells.
What about a Fusion-X-Prize? $10B to the first comercially viable, successful, sustained fusion reaction.
Maybe a Solar-X-Prize as well. $10B to the first solar cell with 60% efficiency and reasonable production costs, etc. etc. etc.
Jan 15, 2005 (AXcess News) Toronto - Scientists at the University of Toronto have invented a solar cell that's made of plastic which can be sprayed on and harnesses infrared light so it even works on cloudy days.
The plastic solar cells are the first to be able to harness the sun's invisible infrared rays, permitting applications of the material to produce electricity in any condition, sunny or overcast.
...
Researchers at a U.S. university say that the polymer could be enhanced to harness up to 30 percent of the sun's energy. Current technology can only reach a 6 percent level of effective energy production.
Fender wrote:
Not sure what good that does since we still need fossil fuels to split water in order to fill up the fuel cells.
What about a Fusion-X-Prize? $10B to the first comercially viable, successful, sustained fusion reaction.
Maybe a Solar-X-Prize as well. $10B to the first solar cell with 60% efficiency and reasonable production costs, etc. etc. etc.
It would be nice if the market could improve this technology a lot in the next 10 or 12 months. But I'm still extremely skeptical.
Fender wrote:
Not sure what good that does since we still need fossil fuels to split water in order to fill up the fuel cells.
What about a Fusion-X-Prize? $10B to the first comercially viable, successful, sustained fusion reaction.
Maybe a Solar-X-Prize as well. $10B to the first solar cell with 60% efficiency and reasonable production costs, etc. etc. etc.
It would be nice if the market could improve this technology a lot in the next 10 or 12 months. But I'm still extremely skeptical.
a consortium of countries are doing that right now. they are in the final stages of deciding where to build it.
of course it is a test bed but, it is a commercial size fusion reactor. another 20 years down the road they should have enough experience to make it totally viable.
R00k wrote:So that will only be about 15 years of exorbitantly expensive (unaffordable) energy. Maybe we can find a way to run our cars on trash in the meantime.
I heard somewhere that the production of hydrogen fuel uses up more energy and creates more pollution than what is saved through the use of hydrogen powered cars.
Canis wrote:I heard somewhere that the production of hydrogen fuel uses up more energy and creates more pollution than what is saved through the use of hydrogen powered cars.
honesly i still think bio-diesel is the best current solution.
unless they can figure out a way to get hydrogen without the wasteful processes curently used for electrolisys.
cold fusion is just a pipe dream.
