US-based vehicle manufacturer General Motors (GM) has entered into a new cooperative research and development agreement with US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC) to develop new hydrogen fuel cell technology.
This project follows the GM's long-term, definitive master agreement with Honda to co-develop a next-generation fuel cell system and hydrogen storage technologies by 2020.
As a part of this agreement, GM and TARDEC will jointly test new hydrogen fuel cell-related materials and designs to evaluate their performance and durability before assembling them into full scale fuel cell propulsion systems. This project will last up to five years.
For this project, GM is establishing a new Fuel Cell Development Laboratory in Pontiac, Michigan.
Engineers from both organizations are planning to share physical material and data between their fuel cell laboratories.
A new Fuel Cell Research Laboratory opened at Ground System Power and Energy Laboratory building in Warren, Michigan will enable TARDEC to test and integrate the fuel cell systems that are being developed for military applications for more than a decade.
Besides, TARDEC is also evaluating GM fuel cell vehicles in a comprehensive demonstration in Hawaii.
GM global fuel cell engineering activities executive director Charlie Freese said that GM welcomes the opportunity to further expand their work with TARDEC developing fuel cell technology.
"We believe hydrogen fuel cell technology holds tremendous potential to one day help reduce our dependence on petroleum and we are committed to building on our leadership through the continued development," Freese added.
