Gm Exec: Hydrogen Powered Cars Could Be On The Road In 6 Years

Soon hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles can be on the road with regular drivers behind the wheel in some test areas. When? In five or six years, according to Larry Burns, vice president of research and development for General Motors Corp. The GM official offered the prediction this week the company announced it had transferred 500 engineers and scientists in the fuel cell laboratory company in the chain of command that actually produces cars.Burns said it still is not ready to say exactly when hydrogen vehicles will be mass produced, but said it should be done before 2020, when many experts have predicted. "It would certainly be disappointed if I had not before 2020, said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press at his office at the sprawling campus of the GM Technical Center in the Detroit suburb of Warren. He added that GM's organizational change, announced Friday, shows the company is confident enough in their quest to take the step to the process of organizational change compared cars.Burns GM when it moved its engineers working on hybrid systems Petrol power of research to production in 2003. At that time, GM had no hybrid models on the market - now five years has said.Hydrogen powered cars use hydrogen fuel cells to produce electricity that fuels an electric motor. That are quieter than gasoline engines and their only waste product is water. The advantages of this technology will reduce our dependence on oil for transportation and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Virtually every automaker is testing hydrogen vehicles, with Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., considered the most distant along.Government and industry experts have said that there are many obstacles to the diffusion of hydrogen-powered cars, that, ranging from high costs and lack of fueling stations the need for better storage capacity and better work range.GM not physically move from their three locations in the United States and one site in Germany. But Burns said the structural change is important in the investigation of GM in the race for the leadership to bring fuel cell electric vehicles in mass production. A small group will stay in research to develop long-term technology.GM - which is also the manufacturer of the pads to GMC - it has built by hand, monitoring a hydrogen-powered crossover sport utility vehicle with a range of about 300 km. E 'was driven safely on public roads during a recent trip to New York. Engineers must reduce costs for manufacturing fuel cell vehicles on the market, Burns said.The company also plans to add more than 100 fuel cell vehicles with consumers in New York, Washington and Los Angeles late this year.Once wider areas set out the evidence and engineers can monitor the actual performance, Burns said he expects fuel cell vehicles and filling stations necessary to gradually spread worldwide.