USDA gets Chevy Equinox fuel cell vehicle for Project Highway test
Even with all of GM's problems, the big Project Driveway endeavor continues. The latest addition to the ranks hydrogen-fueled Equinox test vehicle drivers is the USDA, which took delivery of an Equinox this week. The USDA will drive the fuel cell vehicle for the next six months "to transport top leadership and Congressional Relations Staff on official business on Capitol Hill" so GM will get real-world data and some PR out of the lease. Not bad. For its part, GM will maintain and fuel the vehicle. Refills happen at the Shell Benning Road station in the Northeast community of Washington, D.C., where other local Project Highway participants also get their H2.
Oh, and in case you think that the USDA (the A stands for agriculture) would be more interested in biofuels than hydrogen, remember that the USDA is part of the Department of Energy's (DOE) hydrogen and fuel cell research, development, and demonstration efforts, as GM notes in their release pasted after the jump.
[Source: General Motors]
PRESS RELEASE:
U.S. Department of Agriculture to Put a Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Powered by Hydrogen to the Test
USDA joins GM and Chevrolet in the world's largest market test of hydrogen powered fuel cell electric vehicles
WASHINGTON , D.C. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today becomes the newest partner in Chevrolet's Project Driveway, the first and largest market test designed to speed hydrogen powered fuel cell electric vehicles to the consumer marketplace.
Over the next six months, the USDA will be using a Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle to transport top leadership and Congressional Relations Staff on official business on Capitol Hill – petroleum free – while providing valuable real-world performance feedback to GM. The vehicle is fueled with hydrogen and zero greenhouse gases are released. The only tailpipe emission is clean water vapor.
"With each partner that participates in Project Driveway we gain valuable insight on this important advanced automotive technology that may not have been identified in our internal test mechanisms," said Keith Cole, director, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs – Environment. "The USDA will build on our year of findings through this innovative market test and further demonstrate the need to develop a hydrogen infrastructure to support fueling these vehicles."
The partnership with the USDA is part of the Department of Energy's (DOE) hydrogen and fuel cell research, development, and demonstration efforts.
"Solutions to our nation's energy challenge will come from a variety of renewable sources," said USDA Secretary Ed Schafer. "Agriculture has always generated innovation that is harnessed and put through its paces."
GM will provide the maintenance, fuel and service of the vehicle. Fueling for the USDA is being provided at the Shell Benning Road station in the Northeast community of Washington, D.C. The station is certified for 700 bar fueling and is already being used by other Project Driveway participants.
Since Project Driveway's launch in November of 2007, it has put more than 100 Equinox fuel cell vehicles in the hands of business partners, government agencies, members of the media, celebrities and the general public who have volunteered through the Chevy.com web site. To date, more than 3,200 test drives of varying lengths have been conducted. Currently, the program has launched in Los Angeles, metropolitan New York and Washington, D.C., with further deployments in Europe and Asia later this year.
The first market test of its size and reach, Project Driveway is an important facet of Chevrolet's "Gas Friendly to Gas Free" strategy to offer advanced technologies that enable a variety of fuel solutions.
# # #
About General Motors:
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Enoch 10:28AM (11/08/2008)
This is off topic. Recently (using 4 computers at different times) I had the computers freeze after getting on Autobloggreen. Please check whether there is a problem with your site.
Reply
gorr 10:37AM (11/08/2008)
What is lacking in these tests is the price of a gallon equivalent of hydrogen called a kilo. How much it cost a kilo of hydrogen made from water and electricity at this shell station? How much electricity it take to produce one kilo of hydrogen.? If Gm don't make experiment about this except with shell then these test are irrelevent and with this small omitted detail are killing their fuelcell
project because we need data on fuel(hydrogen) cost. There is many other water electrolysers on the market and especially in labs all around the world and many have said that the efficiency are not the same, so fuel cost may vary by a great margin.
GM and other fuelcell and hydrogen proponents never responded to the many psycho-hydrogen-fear that appeared everywhere in the last 5 years, so why they let destroy their invesment in hydrogen cars?
Reply
jake 12:53PM (11/08/2008)
I don't think the price of the fuel is that bad, around $5 per kilo for some of the higher prices quoted.
Problem is the whole new infrastructure that needs to be built (and not cheaply too) & the high price of the vehicles (this is not only due to the vehicles being limited volume prototypes but even if built in volume, the automakers, ie Honda and GM, have estimated it will still be at least $100k per vehicle). Also there's the question of the source of hydrogen.
Chris M 6:45PM (11/08/2008)
Gorr, the reason why the H2 fuel price wasn't mentioned is that Project Driveway is heavily subsidized by the US government, so there is no lease cost and the fuel is free. Since the government is paying for it, it's not surprising that some government agencies get to play with the toys.
Honda wasn't able to get as big a subsidy from the Japanese government, which is why the FCX Clarity has a $600 per month subsidized lease and the drivers pay full price for the H2 fuel.
Jake, where did you get that $5 per Kilogram price from? The only figures I've heard from people buying H2 fuel at retail have all been in the $8 to $10 per Kg range.
gorr 3:19PM (11/08/2008)
I said the price of 1 kilo of hydrogen.
Reply
TX CHL Instructor 8:16PM (11/12/2008)
It's all moot anyway. GM will be bankrupt by the end of January.
Reply