GM zeroes in on fuel cells
Automaker ready to cash in on its ‘pioneering’ Hydrotec operations
General Motors Co. may be relentlessly promoting an electric future with its sleek-looking EVS for retail customers, but for decades the automaker also has been developing hydrogen fuel cell propulsion technology — and now it’s ready to start making money from it.
The movement to commercialization starts with the Hydrotec fuel cell lab and work areas in Pontiac, Michigan, that are three football fields large and neighbor other propulsion operations. It’s here where teams collaborate to improve the technology that will be used to power larger modes of transportation from semis to trains, free of emissions.
About 300 employees are working on Hydrotec, GM’S hydrogen fuel cell operation that aims to run like a startup while still being connected to the resources of America’s largest automaker. The team has been working, mostly behind the scenes, for years to enhance this technology to offer another way toward a zero-emissions future — one that fuels much faster and weighs significantly less than an electric battery.
But in the last year, Hydrotec hasn’t been so silent, announcing deals with major trucking and locomotive companies. Hydrotec also is gearing up for higher-volume production at a plant in Brownstown Township, Michigan.
The magnitude of this moment is not lost on Margarita Mann, senior manager for the Hydrotec fuel cell business.
She’s been working on the technology for most of her career since she started at GM in 2007.
“It’s just been exciting for me because we work here day in and day out, but we don’t realize how this is pioneering, groundbreaking, really,” she said. “You know GM has been making cars for the last 100 years, right, but this is the first time ever that we’re making a fuel cell. We don’t take it for granted; we just keep on doing this work every day.”
‘Not a one-trick pony’
GM has been working on fuel cells for decades, and has done demonstrations, but now those fuel cells, developed with
Honda Motor Co., will be sent into real-world applications. The automaker foresees both technologies as avenues to a zero-emissions future as it continues to make internal-combustion vehicles for at least the next decade.
“The adoption for hydrogen, especially on the commercial side, is advancing quicker than anyone expected,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said. “It’s an opportunity for GM to monetize this area ... it gives them an advantage and it’s a multi-pronged approach.”
GM already has shown in its demos that a fuel cell system can power a normal consumer vehicle, but the automaker recognizes fuel cells are better suited for larger applications.
“When you start trying to
put heavy things ... liquids, steel, gravel on the big heavy haulers, that’s where you’re going to find that there’s a big challenge to try to go to electric if you don’t also have hydrogen in the technology portfolio,” said Charlie Freese, executive director of GM’S global Hydrotec business. “And so that’s why we continued to put heavy investment into this all along because we saw that it was needed to really build out this overall portfolio.”
Freese took over the program in 2008. His predecessor, Byron Mccormick, had led the program since 1997 and advised executives about the capabilities hydrogen fuel cells could provide.
Under Mccormick, the team developed a “strong” fuel cell technology. When Mccormick retired, the technology was ready to be commercialized, he said, but the lack of hydrogen fueling infrastructure held it back.
While that infrastructure is still not prevalent, GM is focused on providing fuel cell technology to applications with fixed routes. Meanwhile, its new Ultium battery technology can be used across a variety of consumer vehicles.
“General Motors is in a beautiful spot because by doing both of these things, they’ve got a portfolio of options they can balance
... General Motors is not a one-trick pony,” Mccormick said.
Inside the lab
Hydrotec’s projects are moving forward with the fuel cell lab at the center of making that happen.
Here, everything from the research and development on all the components of the cells up to pre-production, including validation and durability testing builds, is done for different applications.
There’s a section for single-cell testing and testing fuel cell stacks. The stack test area is where the electrode and a bipolar plate come together for the first time, connecting the cells in the stack to create power.
“It is the heart of the fuel cell. It is where we are looking to improve performance and durability,” said Betty-ann Young, manager of fuel cell test and lab systems. “As we successfully get through those tests, then we can scale it up and move through the lab.”
And what’s developed and tested in this lab will go directly into what’s built at the manufacturing joint venture operation, Fuel Cell System Manufacturing LLC, that GM operates with Honda in Brownstown Township.
“It’s what we call a learning loop here. We test the product, we productionize it and we learn lessons, we send product back to Betty-ann, she does the testing and all the diagnostic work,” said Suheb Haq, president of Fuel Cells System Manufacturing.
While the fuel cell organization acts like a startup, it’s also part of a much larger organization, which is helpful for growth, Haq said: “Whatever issues, we run to different experts within General Motors, which gives us a competitive advantage because we’ve been building engines, transmissions and batteries for a number of years, and we can take those experiences and leverage them to accelerate the development of the fuel cell systems.”