Big Oil, GM, & Toyota Fuel-Cell Plans Clash With US Battery Car Push
By Alan Ohnsman, Bloomberg; Saturday, October 10, 2009
Oil Co's, General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers want to sell consumers electric cars powered by hydrogen within six years. Their plans clash with the U.S. government`s infrastructure priorities.
GM, Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Daimler AG say durability improvements and cost reductions may enable them to sell the zero-emission vehicles by 2015. Costs to make the fuel-cell cars have fallen from $1 million each a few years ago, and automakers are working to meet a proposed goal of slashing the premium for the cars to $3,600 more than a midsized gasoline model.
The advances that have been made by the automobile manufacturers are remarkable, said Scott Samuelsen, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. Infrastructure is the Achilles heel.
The fuel cell center has received grants from Oil co. Royal Dutch Shell Plc`s hydrogen unit, said Kathy Haq, a spokeswoman for the center - in addition to gov. grants.
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