Here’s how Honda and GM are building production hydrogen fuel cells

BROWNSTOWN, Mich.—Today, a three way partnership between General Motors and Honda Motor Company, named Fuel Cell System Manufacturing LLC (FCSM LLC), formally began producing its one and solely product—a fuel cell system—on a business scale. FCSM formally started in January of 2017 with an preliminary funding between GM and Honda of $85,000,000. Now, the 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) facility in Brownstown, Michigan, homes 80 staff and sufficient robots, clear rooms, and all kinds of high-tech gear to make Ironman blush.

FCSM managing to construct fuel cells rapidly, reliably, and cheaply is what’s new right here, not the fuel cells themselves. And, in response to Tetsuo Suzuki, vice chairman of FCSM LLC, that proved the largest problem. “Our fuel cell system consists of greater than 300 particular person cells [307 in total], every cell consists of very costly supplies. If there’s a defect in even one cell, your entire stack can be unusable,” Suzuki stated. “Therefore, we designed all of our mass production processes with a zero-defect mindset.” Adding, “We launched high quality management into each course of.”

How to construct a fuel cell

More particularly, every cell consists of a number of components, beginning with two totally different liquids that FCSM calls “inks.” One ink varieties an anode, the opposite, a cathode. FCSM then pours every liquid onto a carbon-fiber paper, which it then heats to dry. It then exactly cuts these two totally different papers into form and bonds them collectively to type what it calls a unitized electrode meeting, or UEA; the cathode on one aspect, the anode on the opposite. Both of the anode and cathode sheets are black, however the cathode sheet is gloss, and the anode sheet is matte.

Separately, FCSM exactly varieties a skinny sheet with particular channels for hydrogen and oxygen to cross by way of. It calls this sheet a bi-polar plate, or BPP. FCSM considers any additional element of the BPP proprietary and saved mum when requested about thickness, supplies, and so on. The BPP and UEA then meet and bond collectively, forming one cell. FCSM does that 306 extra instances, stacks all of them tightly collectively in a case, makes use of greater than a mile of sealant to maintain it from leaking, and voila, one accomplished fuel cell leaves the road.

As all of that meeting takes place, 50 cameras monitor progress, consistently maintaining a particularly shut watch on every step of the method to make sure nothing will get contaminated. To that finish, the few people who do play a task right here should first put plastic booties over their footwear and take an air bathe, as this portion of meeting is a clear room. Before thought-about completed, every fuel cell completes a leak take a look at, however utilizing helium, not hydrogen. FCSM claims that helium pumped by way of the stack “at a sure charge” correlates to hydrogen, all with out the chance of a extremely flammable fuel leaking in a producing plant.

Assuming it passes the leak take a look at, FCSM lastly submits the fuel cell to a roughly one-hour-long break-in process, which prepares it to begin making energy. Once accomplished, the fuel cell both goes subsequent door to begin life as a GM HydroTec Power Cube, or it heads to Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center outdoors of Marysville, Ohio, to begin life as a, properly, “Fuel Cell Module.” Honda failed to call its model of the three way partnership ultimate product simply but.

FCSM didn’t expose a lot about energy outputs or different particulars. But in response to Jay Joseph, vice chairman of sustainability and enterprise growth at Honda, “These programs are modular. We can add 250kW with every extra module.” That provides us an excellent basis to work with.

Once every module or Power Cube leaves FCSM premises, this GM and Honda co-owned, co-developed product begins to compete with itself. Despite each manufacturers talking extremely of one another and this technical partnership that started in 2013, each manufacturers look to pursue related strains of enterprise.

But, not less than to begin, we want not fear about an excessive amount of friction between these various energy-seeking companions.

Mining vans to huge rigs to turbines

Hydrogen fuel cells work properly for giant automobiles. According to Charlie Freese, govt director Global HydroTec GM, “Fuel cells uniquely fill the necessity of the heaviest, most succesful automobiles that carry the most important payloads the longest distances and additionally require quick refueling.” Freese added, “These programs will be utilized to every thing from mining gear to Class 8 vans [semi-trucks or tractor trailers] to energy turbines.”

Freese proceeded to debate a collaboration with Autocar, a truck producer, to make use of the fuel cell to energy cement vans, refuse haulers, terminal tractors, and class eight semi-trucks. And, when requested later, people at GM stated it will take “perhaps two” Power Cubes to propel a single truck of this measurement. Taking that line of thought additional, Freese additionally talked about a collaboration with Komatsu: “The Komatsu mine haul truck, it is going to have two megawatts of hydrogen fuel cell energy on board to impress the 930E 320-ton dump truck.” GM stated it will take “extra like 20” Power Cubes for every mining truck.

That’s to not say that GM does not plan to include fuel cell expertise into passenger automobiles, however Freese introduced forth the thought this fashion:

“GM views fuel cells as being a complement to lithium-ion battery expertise,” Freese stated. “Each has a task to play. In reality, virtually each fuel cell utility you possibly can level to has a battery concerned in serving to make the propulsion system operate as a hybrid.” In the previous, Freese has informed Ars that functions like heavy trucking alongside predictable routes take advantage of sense for hydrogen within the close to time period slightly than making an attempt to construct out infrastructure for a whole nation’s passenger automobiles.

Honda is building a passenger fuel cell EV

Conversely, Joseph reminded us that the upcoming Honda CR-V fuel cell electrical car, or FCEV, is only a couple months away. Honda will construct that model of CR-V on the Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio and will use the brand new fuel cell popping out of the FCSM plant. When in comparison with Honda’s final fuel cell car, the Clarity, Joseph stated that “it is a new technology of fuel cell, one technology superior. It’s lighter, smaller, has extra energy output, and is considerably extra dependable than the earlier technology.”

On high of that, Joseph additionally states this collaborative fuel cell prices one-third lower than the Clarity’s unit.

Passenger automobiles make up one in all 4 pillars that Honda sees in its fuel cell future, with business vans, stationary energy stations, and building equipment making up the opposite three. Ultimately much like GM however inverted.

Motoring round in hydrogen fuel cell-powered passenger automobiles en masse nonetheless appears a great distance away. Battery-electric automobiles have had a giant head begin and will at all times be extra environment friendly due to the losses concerned in hydrogen production. On that matter—in 2023, the US Department of Energy stated it’s spending $7 billion to construct a sequence of regional clear hydrogen-generation hubs.

But I really feel actually heartened to see an earnest effort to scale up production of a expertise that makes use of an, finally, plentiful vitality supply with nothing greater than water as exhaust.