GM's Billion-Dollar Fuel-Cell Bet

nakhla writes "Wired is running a lengthy article detailing GM's billion-dollar effort to invent a radically new fuel cell vehicle. The interesting part is that GM's engineers are no longer trying to squeeze a fuel cell engine into a traditional car design. Instead, they're building a completely new type of car from the ground up. No gears, clutch, braking hardware, etc. It's all drive-by-wire (computer controlled). Even the engines are located in each of the 4 wheels. It's a fascinating read, and the article outlines economic reasons for such a car, as well as environmental concerns and practical uses (imagine powering your house with the excess electricity generated by your car). For anyone remotely interested in the future of automotive technology, this article is very interesting."

Comments

Doomed to fail

[Reality Master 101]

The interesting part is that GM's engineers are no longer trying to squeeze a fuel cell engine into a traditional car design. Instead, they're building a completely new type of car from the ground up.

This is not "builing a fuel-cell car from the ground up", this is "building an electric car from the ground up". A fuel-cell is just a power source.

I'm not saying that there's no room for innovation in car design, but there's a reason cars are the way they are. If you have to make the car weigh 500 pounds to match the performance of a gasoline vehicle, you are doing something wrong. If you have to use bicycle tires because normal tires create too much friction, you are doing something wrong.

When they can make a no-compromise car that looks like a CAR and not a golf cart, give me a call. I'm not loading my family into a 500 pound death trap.

The fact that they feel the need to reinvent something that has over 100 years of refinement tells me they are doing something wrong.

Here's an idea: How about not doing it until you have a powerplant that at least comes close to matching the efficiency and performance of a gasoline motor?

Competition Stimulated Innovation

[cmorriss]

What happens when the government mandates that car companies spend time and money on new card designs:

EV-1 (An overpriced piece of crap)

What happens when companies innovate at their own pace, but pushed by competition:

AUTOnomy (a possible revolution in car design)

Just because the government isn't spending billions of dollars on some particular type of research doesn't mean that business won't fill the gap. In fact, this is precisely what is supposed to happen.

Companies aren't there just to be evil and pollute. They're there to make money. If people want more eco-friendly cars, that's exactly what they'll get.