General Motors Corporation and ExxonMobil Corp. have developed a highly efficient gasoline-fuel engine processor for fuel cell vehicles. The companies said that the processor is a major breakthrough that will lead to greatly reduced emissions and improve fuel economy. GM plans a vehicle demonstration using this technology within 18 months.
The processor uses gasoline as a fuel to create a high-quality stream of hydrogen that powers a fuel cell. For consumers, this means they will be able to fuel these new vehicles the same way they fuel their present cars. GM researchers and engineers believe that the gasoline processor is the key to fuel cell production this decade.
GM and ExxonMobil said the results of a three-year collaborative research program has allowed GM and ExxonMobil engineers to design, develop, build and run a gasoline processor that exceeds 80 percent efficiency. By the end of this year, GM will demonstrate in a laboratory an integrated system with an advanced version of this processor and a GM fuel cell stack producing 25 kW.
ExxonMobil and GM signed an agreement in 1998 to conduct research on hardware and fuel options for next-generation vehicles. The collaboration has resulted in several important breakthroughs to speed the development of a gasoline processor to provide hydrogen for a fuel cell-powered vehicle.