Honda, GM and BMW: Fueling, not Fuel Cells

5 August 2005

Clarifying the report several days ago in the Yomiuri Shimbun (earlier post) that Honda, GM and BMW were working on liquid hydrogen fueling technology and fuel cells, BMW and Honda have both come out saying that the partnership is solely focused on fueling technology.

The collaboration between the three automakers, according to BMW, has as its goal the joint development of a tank coupling for liquid hydrogen to be established as a worldwide standard.

Hydrogen as a fuel of the future can only achieve blanket coverage if we develop a convenient, standardized fuelling technology.

—Dr Frank Ochmann, head of the BMW CleanEnergy project

Honda is open to joint fuel cell development with GM, according to CEO Takeo Fukui, but not reliant on any partnership in that area.

BMW’s current focus, as noted earlier is on hydrogen-fueled combustion engines.