The talk of the Detroit Motor Show was the future of the fuel-cell, and AME Info was invited to a presentation by GM about this new technology at its design headquarters in Detroit.
The difference with this technology is that is actually happening. There is a prototype hydrogen-fuelled, fuel-cell vehicle called the Sequel, and it will be cheaper to make and better to drive than a petrol-driven vehicle.
Of course, this means massive investment. But then a company like General Motors, for example, has annual sales bigger than the GDP of Spain. So money is not likely to be a barrier.
The new fuel-cell vehicle is built on a single low-profile chassis allowing great flexibility in design. It has one-tenth of the number of moving parts of a petrol car, and all-electronic controls give very precise handling. The Sequel fuel cell car accelerates from 0-100kph in nine seconds and has a 1,400km range.
Now at a time when the Middle East is experiencing one of its biggest ever oil booms it is churlish to suggest anything but a rosy future. But when you look back over history the seeds of decline can always be seen at the times of greatest success.
Perhaps the fuel-cell vehicle is such a defining moment. Oil sales would slump, and prices crash if the Sequel was launched in volume right now. But when it comes in just five years time we will see the beginning of the end for the internal combustion engine as the main technology of the automotive sector.
That prospect should give anyone in the Middle East a sleepless night. And this time we are not talking about battery-powered cars or solar power, this is a technology that the biggest car company in America is rolling out to replace petrol as the main source of power for its vehicles.
There is already enough hydrogen produced in the world to run 220 million cars a year - mainly for industrial purposes - and increasing that to enough to fuel the 750 million cars on the world's roads is not going to be that difficult. This is not a joke technology, this is the future, and it works without oil.
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Fuel-cells to replace petrol in cars
- USA: Thursday, January 13 - 2005 at 19:48
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Imagine the economic impact of a technology that replaces the internal combustion engine on the Middle East. It is not a fantasy. General Motors will have fuel-cell cars in production by 2010, and the Japanese are said to be about two years ahead.
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Peter J. CooperThursday, January 13 - 2005 at 19:48 UAE local time (GMT+4)
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This article was updated on Wed Jun 27 2007.
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