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Opel Presents Fuel Cell Vehicle Test Fleet with Nine Business Partners in Berlin

Opel has launched the European component of GM’s biggest-ever test program for fuel cell vehicles. Nine companies will be the first to operate the GM/Opel HydroGen4 zero emission vehicles in the Berlin area: ADAC, Allianz, Coca-Cola, Hilton, Linde, Schindler, Axel Springer, Total and Veolia.

Opelh2
Members of the HydroGen4 fleet in Berlin. Click to enlarge.

This real-world road test will run under the umbrella of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), a German Federal Department for Transport, Building and Urban Development funded project focused on proving the day-to-day suitability of hydrogen as a fuel for road transport.

Our future lies in electric vehicles driven by batteries and fuel cell. This technology will allow us to reduce global CO2 emissions in the long term and also help decrease our dependence on oil. Thanks to research and innovation, marketable products are now being developed. I am happy to share and personally support this vision.

—German Federal Minister of Transport Wolfgang Tiefensee

The HydroGen4—GM’s fourth-generation fuel cell vehicle—features improvements in performance and durability. HydroGen4’s fuel cell stack uses 440 single cells. The fuel cell stack provides the electric energy for the 73 kW-synchronous electric motor, delivering zero to 100 km/h acceleration in around 12 seconds and a top speed of 160 kph (99 mph).

The HydroGen4 is fitted with a 1.8 kWh buffer battery to store energy from the vehicle’s regenerative braking system and cover peak electrical loads. The three carbon-fiber composite tanks hold 4.2 kg of hydrogen at a pressure of 700 bars (10,000 psi), sufficient for an operating range of up to 320 kilometers (199 miles).

Globally, GM deploys more than 100 vehicles of this type in its Project Driveway testing program in the US, Japan, Korea, China, and Germany.

In the US, more than 100,000 people have applied as mainstream drivers for the market test. Up to date, 3,400 people have driven the vehicle and 30 families have used the vehicle on a daily base in a 2-3 month deployment. In total, the vehicles were driven almost 700,000 km (435,000 miles). Feedback from these demonstration activities not only gives GM engineers essential validation data, but also provides a valuable insight into the likely ownership and driving experience of future customers.

The vehicles are equipped with a wireless data transfer system that assists engineers by uploading vehicle performance data to a company server. Maintenance of the vehicles deployed in Berlin will be done at a regular Opel dealer equipped with the personnel and tools necessary for servicing fuel cell vehicles.

Comments

stop spending money on hydrogen and fuel cell and spend money on second and third generation biofuel (ethanol and butanol).

wintermane

H2 is already a 140 BILLION a year industry... so the piddly 1 or so billion a year spent on it is realy tax money from the ind going back to boosting it so it will be a much bigger ind making even more tax moola and of course more jobs.

It also is something the milt REALY wants and so gets some money and push from them.

On top of ALL that its the ONLY ice engine that is viable after 2020 or so when co2 limits are so harsh NO nada ZIP zilch NILL!!!!!!!!!!! other kinds of ice engines will be viable. By then to use nat gas in an ice engine you will be forced to convert it to h2 and deal with the co2 onsight... That will be the ONLY way to make an ice with co2 levels of say 60 g/km...

And the downside of bio is its at the mercy of the very thing going to hell in a handbasket.. the climate.

And the fact is both h2 production and fuel cell tech have progressed far faster and better then we had a right to expect and they are still moving forward as fast as ever.

Biofuel?
Maybe you should compre apples with apples....
Biofuel is not an alternative for the worldwide mobility and it is not CO2 free, or has the potential to be
So please, be constructive and realistic. If fuel cells/Hydrogen is not the alternative for taking the Autos out of the enviromental equation, then tell us what it should be, because what you are prooposing are only short term solutions.

clett

Opel, please put down the hydrogen and step away from the vehicle....

bioethanol and diesel from algae are the way to go they are more economical and environmentally friendly since hydrogen requires to produce more energy to produce

being C02-free is not bad but remember more CO2 there are, the faster the biomass glows so having some degrees of CO2 is not that bad. We just don't cut down too much trees thats all

sulleny

Not sure that biomass that "glows" is the smart way to go here.

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