Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Has GM got the 10,000 bug also??
by Larry Geller
The companies said the hydrogen may be available at the equivalent price of gasoline or less. GM is developing a production-intent fuel cell system that could be ready for commercialization in 2015.
The giant automaker said Hawaii is uniquely positioned to adopt hydrogen-powered vehicles and that its infrastructure could support tens of thousands of fuel cell vehicles eventually. [Honolulu Advertiser, Gas Company, GM to test hydrogen fuel-cell technology on Oahu, 5/11/2010]
Ok, unfair, they actually said “tens of thousands,” not “10,000”, the number that CT&T has so often used in promoting its electric cars (see: CT&T and the number 10,000).
And no objection from me, this is exactly the kind of experiment we should be doing, IMHO.
The Gas Company is entering into a partnership with General Motors Corp. to test hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology on Oahu, possibly leading to greater use of the renewable fuel in vehicles here.
This last line may be the same, though, the “greeningwashing” of alternative fuel vehicles. Hydrogen is a “renewable fuel” but if it needs to be made from electricity that comes from oil and coal, so what. The article doesn’t elaborate on exactly where that hydrogen will come from.
And it raises the question of whether Oahu will have tens of thousands of this kind of car or 10,000 of that kind of car. Not that we need to settle on one company or one technology right now, but like Hanabusa vs. Case, could we be costing the chances of any company to succeed by entering into so many “partnerships?”
Just asking. It will sort itself out in time, probably to our benefit.
In the mean time, we still need to get rid of those oil- and coal-burning generators. Sorry, HECO, but one day we’ll figure that out.
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