GM NORTH AMERICA

FreedomCAR

FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) is a partnership between the U.S. Council on Automotive Research (USCAR), automotive companies (GM, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler), and the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal of the partnership is to develop new technologies that allow for the development of emission and petroleum-free cars and light trucks. FreedomCAR focuses on a broad portfolio of technologies, but the primary emphasis is on enabling the transition to hydrogen fuel and fuel cell vehicles.

Joint Initiative with the U.S. Department of Energy

At the end of March 2005, GM and the U.S. Department of Energy signed a five-year, $88 million agreement to build a 40-vehicle fuel cell fleet that will be used in demonstrations in Washington, DC; New York; California; and Michigan. Each party is contributing half of the overall cost of the initiative. As part of this program, GM will be working with Shell Hydrogen LLC to provide the New York City metro area with 13 fuel cell vehicles and the city's first hydrogen service station.

World’s Largest Fuel Cell Vehicle Fleet

GM will build the world’s largest fuel cell vehicle fleet comprising more than 100 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles and will begin placing them with customers in the fall of 2007, as part of a comprehensive deployment plan dubbed “Project Driveway.” A variety of drivers – in differing driving environments – will operate these vehicles and refuel with hydrogen in three geographic areas: California, the New York metropolitan area and Washington, DC.

Enabled by GM’s fourth-generation fuel cell propulsion system, the Equinox Fuel Cell is a fully-functional crossover vehicle. Importantly, the Equinox Fuel Cell is able to start and operate in sub-freezing temperatures during its 50,000-mile life. It is expected to meet all applicable 2007 U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and is equipped with a long list of standard safety features including driver and passenger frontal air bags and roof rail side-impact air bags; anti-lock braking system (ABS); StabiliTrak stability enhancement technology; and OnStar, while providing all of the environmental benefits of hydrogen fuel cell technology.

California Fuel Cell Partnership

GM takes part in the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP), a collaboration of 31 member companies that are working together to promote the commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Members include automobile manufacturers, energy providers, government agencies, fuel cell technology companies, and transit authorities.
Over the next three years, the members will work together to achieve the following goals:

• Placing up to 300 fuel cell cars and buses into fleet demonstration programs across California
• Operating hydrogen fueling stations to support the vehicles
• Paving the path to commercialization through common protocols and methods
• Preparing communities and training first responders for vehicles and fueling
• Enhancing public awareness by exchanging information and resources worldwide

Major achievements by the end of 2005 include:

• 126 passenger vehicles and nine buses placed on California roads
• 16 hydrogen refueling stations in operation
  
• 588 first responders trained since 2003
• 5,156 refuelings at the West Sacramento station since 2000
• 15 new demonstration programs started in 2005
• 1,224 visitors from 15 countries in 2005
• 15,469 people had a first-hand experience with a fuel cell vehicle in 2005

Improved Hydrogen Storage

Another example of GM's collaboration on fuel cell development is its work with Sandia National Laboratory. In January 2005, GM joined the lab in a partnership to design and test an advanced method for storing hydrogen. The four-year, $10 million program is intended to develop and test tanks that store hydrogen in sodium aluminum hydride. The goal is to create a way in which to store more hydrogen onboard a vehicle than current hydrogen storage methods allow.