Whether it’s traditional gasoline, diesel, compressed natural gas, or electricity, cars need something to power their movement. Usually, this is done with an internal combustion engine that converts the chemical energy stored in its fuel source into rotary motion via a controlled combustion cycle. Recently, though, there has been a growing number of alternatively powered vehicles — most notably, electric vehicles. Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid are some of the big players in today’s EV market, each with gradually increasing shares in the American automotive market. However, there is another emerging technology that may be a key player in the future of powering our daily commutes — hydrogen fuel cells.
A hydrogen fuel cell utilizes our planet’s simplest element, hydrogen, as well as oxygen, to generate electricity. This is done through an electrochemical process based around a polymer electric membrane (PEM). The PEM consists of a positive cathode and a negative anode separated by an electrolyte membrane — much like a traditional battery. Hydrogen molecules break down into protons and electrons in the anode, and oxygen molecules accept these on the cathode side. The electrons are sent through the external circuit, generating what we call electricity! The only byproduct of this process is water when the protons, electrons, and oxygen molecules combine on the cathode side. To continue the process, more hydrogen and oxygen are introduced into the fuel cell.
Automotive companies Honda and General Motors (GM) have joined together in a joint venture to begin the large-scale manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cells under a company named Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, LLC (FCSM). In January 2017, a 70,000-square-foot facility was built in Brownstown, Michigan, to house FCSM. Both Honda and GM engineers, intellectual property, and investments are being funneled into FCSM. Both companies believe that hydrogen will play a key role in the future of alternative, zero-emissions energy production, and mobility.
Honda plans to create a hydrogen-powered CR-V utilizing the technology from this joint venture. The CR-V is one of Honda’s highest-selling models, capitalizing on the vast compact crossover SUV market that is rapidly growing in both the United States and abroad. This hydrogen CR-V will debut in March of 2024 in limited quantities in California. The current goal is to produce 2,000 fuel cell units in 2025, of which roughly 500 will be put into CR-Vs. The hydrogen-powered crossovers will be assembled at Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio — the same plant that produced the company’s luxury branded halo car, the Acura NSX. However, the currently sole model of fuel cell being manufactured by FCSM produces only 103 horsepower, which is nearly half the current CR-V’s power output.
GM envisions a different future for the fuel cells produced by FCSM. The Detroit-based automotive giant created their new Hydrotec division to handle the utilization of the fuel cells within the company’s structure. GM will sell them as Power Cubes, which are intended to be used in heavy equipment and as standalone power generators. Other potential uses for the Power Cubes will be in heavy industry vehicles such as garbage trucks, cement mixers, dump trucks, and mining trucks. There is also the possibility of integrating the Power Cubes into airplanes to generate electricity instead of using the power created by jet turbines. Hydrotec has already shown that there is promise in these technologies, successfully powering the 60 kilowatt DC fast chargers for the thirteen electric vehicles at Motortrend’s SUV of the Year event.
The FCSM joint venture between Honda and GM shows the faith that these companies hold in hydrogen’s genuine potential to supplement or even replace current electricity storage technology in the future. Honda is already building cars with fuel cells, and GM has varied plans that include powering vehicles with them as well. As a zero-emissions, more compact, less battery-dependent method of powering the growing fleet of electric vehicles on our roads today, hydrogen fuel cells have the capability to bring the automotive industry a step closer to minimizing its impact on the environment.
