| Great Leap Forward |
24 November 2003
|
China to Get Fuel Cell Cars by GM
When a business gets something right, it is a beautiful thing. General Motors may just be onto a stroke of inspired genius in giving hydrogen-powered fuel cells cars their start in China. The plan overcomes a huge number of obstacles, and it could result in Chinese-made fuel cell cars being exported to the US before too much longer.
Unlike Europe and North America, China has not invested heavily in the infrastructure of gasoline and diesel fuel. That means that there isn't the same kind of vested interest standing in the way of the fuel cell car. What still creates a problem is the cost of creating the hydrogen fuel, both financially and environmentally. The communist government of China, like other bright red regimes in history, has chosen economic development over environment in virtually every case. Other nations may care more about their clean air and unblemished horizons. This gives China a further leg up.
GM has unveiled a concept car called Hy-wire. The company has some problems to work out yet, such as the water trail the exhaust pipe leaves sometimes -- in China's colder regions, this will freeze and form ice that can stall the engine. Also, GM has opted for a driving system that may be too high-tech for the market -- the Chinese may not be able to afford such a vehicle in the huge numbers many sales people would like.
That said, there is a potential here that could change the way people drive, and where cars are made. If China, unencumbered by the inertia of the auto industry elsewhere, can make a go of fuel-cell cars (and GM is aiming for commercially viable models in 2010), the nation might just find itself making cars in the 21st century the way Detroit made them in the 20th. It will probably cost American jobs, and it will further erode the US trade deficit with China. A shrewd business move may yet be thwarted by politics.
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