The Future of Transportation

The future of transportation was on display in early October at Wired magazine’s “NextFest,” as car sponsor General Motors showcased prototypes of three hydrogen fuel-cell powered concept vehicles at New York’s Javits Center, providing industry, press and the public the most comprehensive view to date of GM’s fuel-cell strategy.


The badging on General Motors' Hy-wire hydrogen-powered concept car

The zero-emissions, hydrogen-powered concepts exhibited at the Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 show included GM’s ultra-futuristic, all-electrically controlled Hy-wire; an attractive, hydrogen-powered truck from GM’s Chevrolet called the Sequel, a future version of which GM says will likely be the first fuel-cell vehicle it will commercially produce; and the Chevrolet Equinox, a small, four-door SUV. The automaker announced in September that about 100 Equinoxes are being custom-fit with hydrogen fuel-cell engines and will be offered to selected consumers in 2007 for testing and market research.

GM's Hy-wire hydrogen car concept + enlarge image  |  view slideshow >

GM decided to test its fourth-generation fuel-cell powertrain with consumers first in the custom-fit Equinox because the truck’s driving, braking and steering mechanisms are powered traditionally, meaning they’re controlled by mechanical moving parts and cables. This is opposed to the all-electronic controls of the Hy-wire and Sequel. Chevy debuted the commercially offered, conventionally powered Equinox in 2005.

More advanced “drive-by-wire” technology, which controls steering and braking solely by electronic impulses and connections, has yet to be fully tested to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards regulations. Drive-by-wire brakes, for instance, must be backed up by traditional disc, air-based or “pneumatic” brakes in case of electrical failure.

The term “drive-by-wire” refers to the use of electrical wires that carry digital data from condition sensors as well as driver manipulations of electronic-powered controls in the cabin. The digital information is applied directly to the mechanisms used to stop, maneuver and accelerate.

Christopher E. Borroni-Bird, director of design and technology at GM, with the Chevy Sequel + click to enlarge | view slideshow >

Wire-based shifting like the type offered in the 2007 Toyota Prius has recently been released, enabling push-button gear-changing via a joystick. More common and available drive-by-wire technology includes electronic throttle control.

“There are some huge hurdles with the federal government in having federal motor vehicle safety standards for drive-by-wire technology,” said Brad F. Beauchamp, account executive for government and alternative fuel fleets for GM’s Northeast region, who was helping guide the press around GM’s concept show models.

“The Equinox made it a quick way to comply with all the regulations and still get the fuel-cell technology out in the hands of the general public to do some real-world testing,” he said. “We want to put people in these who may not know, necessarily, what a proton exchange membrane does but would drive the vehicle to help us understand how they use it on a grocery run or on a soccer-mom basis. And maybe tell us what’s missing, or what you need to do to make sure the vehicle meets the market’s demands.”

The fuel-cell powered Equinoxes will be distributed in fall 2007 to users in California, Washington, D.C., and the New York metropolitan region. GM is currently trying to line up partners to make hydrogen fueling stations available in these areas, Beauchamp said.

The Saturn Vue Hybrid + click to enlarge | view slideshow >

Currently, there is only one hydrogen filing pump in the nation: a Shell station on Benning Road in Washington, D.C., which has a pump that’s used to fuel six GM HydroGen3, five-passenger minivans, which are based on the Zafira, a model from GM’s Opel division in Germany. The beltway program is meant to showcase fuel-cell advances to Congress.

According to The Journal News of New York’s Westchester County, Shell intends to install a hydrogen fuel pump at a Kensico Avenue garage in White Plains, N.Y., which the city will use to refuel fuel-cell vehicles it’s leasing from GM and Toyota. There’s also a proposal to build another pump in the Westchester town of Greenburgh, The Journal reported.

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Photo credit: Daniel Cavazos/ForbesAutos.com.