Hydrotec Fuel Cells Have ‘Several Competitive Advantages’

DETROIT – In chapter three of General Motor’s Exhibit Zero series, Margarita Mann, engineering manager of fuel design integration, speaks about the importance of Hydrotec fuel cell systems and how they work.

Mann explained that a hydrogen fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that takes hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air, and combines those two elements to create electricity and water.

“GM Hydrotec has a land air sea strategy in implementing its Hydrotec fuel cells technologies in these heavier duty applications,” she said. “Hydrotec fuel cells have several competitive advantages. Fuel cells can refuel really quickly, which is an advantage for trucks that require a lot of high uptime. The hydrogen infrastructure supporting fuel cells can be shared and centralized in hubs.”

Finding like-minded partners is critical, Mann said. Partners include Navistar with class eight trucks, Liebherr with auxiliary plane power and Wabtec for locomotive and transit rails.

Additionally, Mann said there isn’t a compromise to payload or performance.

“GM Hydrotec is on the cusp of commercializing fuel cells,” she said. “What excites me about working at General Motors is I get to work on this one technology that I’m really passionate about and that’s fuel cell technology and electrification in general.”

Source: GM Exhibit Zero

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.