Honda and GM come together to tackle Fuel Cell challenges

The global auto majors had started researching on the hydrogen fuel cell technology more than a decade ago as an eco-friendly measure to reduce the dependency on natural fossil fuels, as the natural reserves dwindle over the passage of time. However, this green technology owing to its very expensive development costs got sidelined as most of the auto makers chose the comparatively low cost technologies of hybrids and battery electric vehicles.

As, the governments of the various nations across the world started pressuring the auto makers to churn out more zero emission vehicles in the market, the car makers concentrated more on the EVs and Hybrids in order to save costs. The various nations are carrying out the green campaign and also giving subsidies to the emission free cars in order to reduce the pollution levels that are indicating a devastating effect.

Presently, the Fuel Cell technology is again in the limelight, as the global auto majors are joining hands to overcome the obstacles of this technology and promote the hydrogen powered cars to the mass market. The two most intimidating hindrances in the path to Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology are the sky rocketing costs involved in the hydrogen storage system in the vehicle and the lack of hydrogen refueling infrastructure.

Some renowned auto companies such as Toyota and Hyundai among the others are known to have progressed a lot in the Fuel Cell technology and also achieved success in reducing the cost. While these companies are set to bring in their Fuel Cell cars by 2015, General Motors was supposedly shunning the way.

However, according to General Motors (GM), the company had never stopped on the development of the fuel cell technology. Now, GM and Honda Motors are coming together with 1,200 patents among them in order to handle the challenges and expedite the launch of their hydrogen powered cars by 2020.

The chairman and CEO of GM, Dan Akerson said that the collaboration of Honda and GM is based on the two companies’ strengths as leaders in the hydrogen fuel cell technology. He added by saying that both the companies are convinced that the Fuel Cell technology is the best way to potentially reduce the dependency on fuels and establish an eco-friendly mobility system.

The president and chief executive of Honda Motor, Takanobu Ito said that amongst all zero emission technologies, the Fuel Cell is more efficient in terms of range and fuel efficiency. Honda and GM are eager to speed up the process of introducing this ultimate green mobility technology to the market. Honda is excited about the collaboration to fuse the development process of the two companies to produce an advanced system that will be more potential as well as affordable.

The long-term agreement between Honda and GM was announced at a press conference in New York. While Honda has announced its plans to launch the upgraded FCX Clarity in Japan and US in 2015 followed by Europe, GM is yet to announce its fuel cell launch plans.