Leading environmentalist and fuel cell innovator joins GM

General Motors Invests in Strategic Alliance with General Hydrogen

Leading environmentalist and fuel cell innovator joins GM's global innovation and technology team

WASHINGTON - General Motors and General Hydrogen announced a 25-year collaboration today to accelerate the spread of a hydrogen infrastructure, and to speed the introduction of fuel cell vehicles into markets in North America, Europe, Asia and emerging economies.

The strategic alliance will focus on several key areas, including hydrogen storage, fuel cell vehicle refueling, energy services, advanced materials, power electronics, and electric power production.

Larry Burns, General Motors Corporation vice president for research and development, and planning and Geoffrey E. H. Ballard, General Hydrogen Corporation chair announced the deal in Washington D.C. in advance of the 12th Annual Energy Efficiency Forum.

"General Hydrogen is an exceptional company with a tremendous management team and a very exciting future," said Burns. "We believe we've added a franchise player to our GM team. This relationship brings together an impressive group of world leaders in the development of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies. We look forward to working together with Geoffrey Ballard and his team to create a hydrogen infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles."

Burns added that significant investment and planning on the parts of federal and local governments will be a key factor in developing the hydrogen infrastructure necessary to support meaningful numbers of fuel cell vehicles in the future.

Ballard is a world-renowned environmentalist who played a major role in developing fuel cells for commercial applications when he founded Ballard Power Systems in 1979 with Paul Howard, currently General Hydrogen vice chair. Ballard Power Systems is recognized as a world leader in the development of fuel cell stacks.

"We are very excited to be partnering with the world's largest automobile manufacturer and a leading developer of fuel cell technology," said Ballard. "General Hydrogen and General Motors will work together to bring about a global hydrogen infrastructure capable of supporting large numbers of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles."

Both companies believe hydrogen is the best choice to power fuel cell vehicles over the long term. It is clean, can be made renewably and, when used as an energy source, emits only water and heat.

"In the upcoming months and years, GM and General Hydrogen hope to develop technology that will demonstrate the potential of our bold and exciting vision," said General Hydrogen President and CEO Michael Routtenberg. "This quest will be led by our powerful team, whose members include the world's foremost fuel cell and hydrogen industry leaders."

Byron McCormick, co-executive director of GM's Global Alternative Propulsion Center, said GM is committed to the effort of bringing fuel cell technologies to the market place.

"Significant work still needs to be done to build a hydrogen infrastructure," McCormick said. "The technology and business approach that we're developing with General Hydrogen is aimed at realizing that vision. This relationship clearly has the potential to fundamentally change the way energy is delivered in the future, while providing significant benefits both to consumers and the environment.

"We're putting together a world-class team to develop innovative solutions for the development of a hydrogen infrastructure," he said. "Starting with our investment in Giner Electrochemical Systems and their electrolyzer technology, to our just-announced alliance with QUANTUM Technologies, and their hydrogen storage and handling capabilities, and now our partnership with General Hydrogen, we plan to move aggressively to work on putting that infrastructure in place."