GM, Shell to Offer Hydrogen Fuel at Gas Station

DETROIT March 5, 2003; Sharon Silke Carty writing for Dow Jones reports that drivers in the Washington area will soon be able to get hydrogen at a local Shell gas station.

General Motors Corp. and Shell Hydrogen are planning to give legislators the opportunity to kick the tires on the developing hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles by allowing them to test drive the cars and fuel up at a gas station in the metro Washington area.

"We want to learn together and demonstrate under real life situations that this is a very simple, transparent process that is convenient for customers," said Donald Huberts, chief executive of Shell Hydrogen, a unit of Shell Oil Products LLC.

While the fueling station won't be open until October, General Motors will provide two hydrogen cars in May for test drives, said Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research, development and planning. Once the station is up and running, GM will provide six cars for drives during the week, allowing for about 100 fuelings at the Shell station.

"It's an important learning opportunity, with real vehicles driving in real- world settings," Mr. Burns said. "Many of our policy leaders have not had a chance to drive fuel cell vehicles, and this gives them that opportunity."

"This will give them the chance to kick the tires to really understand the way this technology is going," he added.

In California, where hydrogen cars are already in limited use, the fueling stations are independent of regular fueling pumps. The Shell experiment will be the first gas station to fully integrate hydrogen into the gas station in a manner similar to the way drivers fuel up now, Mr. Huberts said.

In his State of the Union address in January, President Bush made hydrogen fuel cells a priority for his administration, promising to spend $1.2 billion to develop fuel-cell autos. Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said fuel-cell cars could be on the road as early as 2015, provided automakers and energy companies work together to develop the cars and the infrastructure needed.

Mr. Burns said GM sees a "huge business opportunity associated with these technologies." The company wants to be the first to sell one million hydrogen vehicles.

"These vehicles will simply be more exciting and compelling for our consumers to own," he said. While the company wouldn't release how much the experiment would cost, Burns said GM will probably end up spending more than the federal government will to get this technology on the road.