(24 Oct 04)

It's the most unlikely vehicle so far to have been created to run on hydrogen. General Motors has build a one-off Hummer H2H, although it doesn't use fuel cell technology, but is fitted with a supercharged six-litre V8 re-engineered to run on hydrogen gas fuel.

GM says that the H2H, which won't go into production, was created "to bring focus and attention to the journey to a hydrogen economy, and it will provide GM with key learnings on hydrogen storage, hydrogen delivery systems, and hydrogen infrastructure development."

Use of the H2H will be shared with the office of the Governor of California. Ah - that'll be well-known Hummer enthusiast and collector Arnold Schwarzenegger.

General Motors is not the only manufacturer making hydrogen headlines in California this weekend. DaimlerChrysler is adding one of its A-class based F-Cell vehicles to the Los Angeles Airport fleet, coinciding with the opening of a BP/Praxair hydrogen filling station open to the public.

DaimlerChrysler has committed itself to having at least 100 fuel cell vehicles in use world-wide by the end of this year. That will include 60 F-Cells, a handful of Sprinter vans and 33 Citaro buses of the kind already operating in Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and Singapore.

Back to News index