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GM to Mass Produce Fuel Cell Vehicles by 2010

September 18, 2001 by Jeff Shepard

General Motors Corp. (Detroit, MI) expects to mass produce fuel cell cars by the end of the decade. According to Matthew Fronk, chief engineer of fuel cell systems at General Motors, "We see a path to volume production within this decade, probably around 2008-2010."

The car developed by GM will use gasoline as the primary fuel, which will be transformed into hydrogen through a reformer. The hydrogen feeds into the fuel cell stack to produce electricity, which powers the car's engine.

The technology used by GM is the so-called proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. The stack will generate 1.75kW of power per litre of gasoline and have a continous power output of 102kW, which is equivalent to 134HP.