GM and Honda may jointly manufacture fuel cells

By Stephen Edelstein Published January 20, 2016

General Motors and Honda may soon take their existing hydrogen fuel cell partnership to the next level by opening a jointly operated factory to make fuel cells for future cars. The factory could open by 2025, according to a new report.

The two carmakers hope that pooling their resources will lower the considerable cost of manufacturing fuel cells, an anonymous Honda official told Japan’s The Asahi Shimbun. GM and Honda will still pursue development of fuel cell vehicles on independently, the report said.

Recommended Videos

The American and Japanese company first announced a partnership in 2013, with the stated intention of developing lower-cost, commercially viable fuel cell components by 2020. More recently, there have also been rumors that the two companies will collaborate on plug-in hybrid powertrains. Neither company has confirmed the fuel cell factory or plug-in hybrid deals.

Honda will launch its 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell in Japan this spring, and in the U.S. later in the year. The sleek sedan was unveiled at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show last fall, and U.S. sales will be limited to California due to lack of fueling infrastructure elsewhere. GM has no short-term plans for a production fuel cell car, but it has a fleet of converted Chevrolet Equinox test mules that have collectively logged over 3 million miles.

Carmakers are eager to partner on fuel-cell development because of the inherently higher cost of this technology. Fuel cell stacks use expensive metals, and for the time being low production volumes make economies of scale hard to achieve. Honda will likely sell only a few hundred Clarity Fuel Cells per year, while rival Toyota plans to deliver just 3,000 copies of its Mirai sedan in the U.S. between now and 2017.

That’s why carmakers are banding together. In addition to the existing GM-Honda partnership, Toyota is sharing fuel cell technology with BMW in an agreement that may also produce a new sports car platform for the two companies. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler is also collaborating with Ford and Nissan on fuel cells.

Topics

Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

Cars

All the hydrogen vehicles available for purchase

Hyundai Nexo

Electric cars aren't the only zero-emissions vehicles available new in the United States. There are three hydrogen-powered models currently on sale that emit nothing but water vapor from their tailpipe. They drive just like EVs, the days of burning hydrogen in an internal-combustion engine belong to the past, but they offer a greater driving range and much quicker refueling times. The big, deal-breaking trade-off is that the refueling infrastructure is tiny, and it's developing at a snail's pace. Do you have any idea where the nearest hydrogen station is?

Many automakers believe the technology and the corresponding infrastructure will expand during the 2020s. Until then, here are the only hydrogen-powered vehicles you can buy new in 2020.
Hyundai Nexo

Cars

It’s the end of the road for GM carsharing service Maven

maven car sharing

General Motors (GM) is shuttering its Maven carsharing service four years after it launched.

Cars

Audi halts vehicle deliveries to the U.S. as it mulls impact of tariffs

2021 Audi Q5

If you’d been thinking of buying an Audi, now might be the time. The German brand, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has announced it would halt shipments to the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles.
Audi is currently holding cars that arrived after the tariffs took effect, on April 3, in U.S. ports. But it still has around 37,000 vehicles in its U.S. inventory, which should be able to meet demand for about two months, according to Reuters.
Automakers on average hold enough cars to meet U.S. demand for about three months, according to Cox Automotive.
Audi should be particularly affected by the tariffs: The Q5, its best-selling model in the U.S., is produced in Mexico, while other models, such as the A3, A4, and A6 are produced in Germany.
Holding shipments is obviously a temporary measure to buy time for Audi and parent company Volkswagen. If tariffs stay in place, vehicle prices would likely have to go up accordingly, unless some production is shifted to the U.S. Volkswagen already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. That latter plant, however, isn’t expected to be operational until 2027 and is currently dedicated to building electric vehicles for VW’s Scout Motors brand.
Other global automakers have also taken drastic measures in response to Trump’s tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover on April 5 said it is pausing shipments of its its UK-made cars to the United States this month. The British sports-luxury vehicle maker noted that the U.S. market accounts for nearly a quarter of its global sales, led by the likes of Range Rover Sports, Defenders, and Jaguar F-PACE.
And on April 3, Nissan, the biggest Japanese vehicle exporter to the United States, announced it will stop taking new U.S. orders for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, the QX50 and QX55.