General Motors and Honda have hinted that both of them would soon be teaming up and such alliance is centered on developing the technologies for the next-generation fuel cell and hydrogen storage.
Based on the information provided by the two carmakers, the partnership is expected to bring the next-generation fuel cell and hydrogen storage technologies into reality since the alliance is centered on sharing both of their expertise, common sourcing strategies and economies of scale.
Upon hearing the said teaming-up, many car experts were convinced that General Motors and Honda will surely earn a lot of benefits for such partnership since both of these carmakers have the extensive experience in the development of the earlier versions of fuel cells and hydrogen fuelling.
General Motors was involved in the development of experimental hydrogen-powered vehicles in the year 1966 and this was considered as among the first initiative in the alternative-fueled vehicle segment. In addition to that, General Motors has also revealed a number of hydrogen fuel cell concepts such as the HyWire Concept in 2002 and the Sequel Concept in 2005.
Unfortunately, the US carmaker closed its research operation on fuel cell in Honeoye Falls which is situated in New York in 2012. Upon closing the said operation, the efforts towards the fuel-cell research was consolidated at the company’s powertrain headquarters in Pontiac, Michigan.
Honda on the other hand was also involved in working with fuel cells and hydrogen fuelling in the US when the company first released the FCX Clarity sedan that was eventually offered for lease in smaller numbers in Southern California only. After that, Honda released the second-generation version of the FCX Clarity in the middle parts of 2008. Aside from such accomplishments, Honda has also revealed that the company is set to launch the third-generation version of the FCX Clarity in the US and Japan in 2015. However, Honda has also hinted that the company is expecting to start the mass production of the fuel-cell-powered vehicles in 2020.
Given such experiences in developing fuel-cell and hydrogen storage technologies, many car experts believe that Honda and General Motors would soon be able to come up with their own versions of the fuel-cell-powered vehicles.
