In 1966, General Motors tested the Electrovan, the world’s first hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle.
According to GM, the development was spearheaded by a team of 200-people working to address the challenge put forth by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, that challenged NASA to safely land a man on the moon before the end of the decade.
They started in January 1966, and 10 months later, they had a running demo. The timeline draws a remarkable comparison 50 years later to the new Chevy Colorado ZH2 that only took about 10 months to develop, from contract to completion.
GM says that it has invested more than $2.5 billion and driven more than 3.1 million miles en route to its new hydrogen fuel cell technology and new designs won't be quite as packed as that old Electrovan. Though we still haven’t seen much from underneath the ZH2’s hood.
According to the company, the Electrovan was so crammed with fuel cell componentry that it could only fit three people.
After the van wore out its welcome, it spent 31 years in a warehouse in Pontiac, Michigan until it was rediscovered in 2001.
This is IEN Now with David Mantey.
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