The scope of this report includes an outline of what General Motors corporation is developing in the field of fuel cells. GM has spent large sums of money developing what they hope will be the next big step in automobiles. At the moment they have three different vehicles that they have developed. They are the Chevrolet S-10 pickup, Autonomy, and the Precept.
The Chevrolet S-10 pickup is powered by a reformer. The onboard reformer extracts the hydrogen from methanol. This truck has the potential to obtain forty percent overall energy efficiency. This would be about fifty percent better than the conventional internal combustion engine. The reformer technology would be much easier to integrate than hydrogen cars because if you had to set up a hydrogen fueling station infrastructure it would cost billions. The truck's electricity comes from the Stack 2000 system. The truck generates 25 kilowatts, which is equal to about 33 horsepower. .
Autonomy is a low slung platform with four wheels attached. This base would contain not only the fuel cells but also the entire power train. It is possible to put fuel cells into a combustion engine compartment but with this technology you can make the automobile safer for anyone riding in the vehicle. The Autonomy's base is only six inches thick. This technology will allow many affordable passenger compartments to be attached to the base for the consumer's needs.
The Precept is vehicle that uses a high ride hydrogen fuel system that can deliver up to a 500 mile range. The precept shows a useful way to store electrical power and hydrogen in a vehicle. This technology would help lower the costs to about $2,000 to $3,000 per vehicle, which is just about equal to the cost of today's combustion engines. The Precept is a midsize sedan that can hold five people. It is predicted to be able to accelerate from zero to sixty in nine seconds and go 120 miles per hour while still achieving 108 miles per gallon in everyday traffic.
