GM Promotes Hydrogen Fuel Cell Chevy Equinox in China
China’s official news agency Xinhua reports that General Motors has kicked-off their “2009 promotional tour” of China for their Chevrolet Equinox hydrogen fuel cell car. Starting in China’s capital Beijing, GM will send the Equinox across the world’s fourth largest country to drum-up interest for the mid-size crossover SUV that uses the same alt propl as the elusive Chevrolet Sequel. China is no stranger to the technology. Researchers at the Anting Automotive College of Shanghai’s Tongji University developed China’s first working fuel cell car– based on a venerable Santana 2000– in 2003. GM claims that they will introduce several Chevrolet Equinox hydrogen-fuel cell cars to China in the next two years. (NB: that’s “cars” not “models.”) Nobody knows what this alleged car or cars will cost, or where GM may place the necessary hydrogen refuelling stations within the vast reaches of the middle kingdom. (No small point that; the Chevy Equinox needs a fill-up every 200 miles. Or less.) For the foreseeable future, in China at least, GM’s zero emission car of the future will continue to be what comes out of its exhaust pipe: vapor.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
Meanwhile, GM is hoping for a tax payer funded bailout here in the USA.
Yet more nonsense. Hydrogen fuel cells are a parasite on the alternative energy scene -- they're the infeasible frou-frou that just sinks money in an ultimately hopeless project. Anyone who's done any sort of research and understands the 2nd law of thermodynamics can tell you that using hydrogen as an energy carrier is a negative sum game -- and that's all this boils down to. I really hope they divert more of these funds (and their bailout money) to something more pragmatic, especially in a country with as much testbed potential as China.