1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144 
• General Motors puts even Mercedes-Benz into the shade when
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
it comes to fuel cell history: its first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle was the GM Electrovan in 1966. Their latest development is the GEN III petrol processor, a unit which converts liquid petrol (or natural gas) into hydrogen to power a fuel cell.
The first version of GEN Ill was built into a stationary fuel cell (to the left of the picture) which could be used as a self-contained electricity generator for a business or a home.
GM has a vision of similar units being built into new homes and being supplied with natural gas fuel through a pipeline, removing the need for mains electricity GM also reckons that this could be a way of introducing the fuel cell concept to reluctant consumers.
A smaller GEN III unit has since been developed for automotive use: it is combined with a fuel cell, which weighs only 86kg, to power a Chevrolet S-10 pickup. This is the first petrol-powered fuel cell vehicle in the world. It is far from ideal (the fuel cell produces only 25kW, and needs to be supplemented with a battery for peak power) but it could be the future for this technology.