GM, Honda Launch Fuel-Cell Mass Production in Michigan

BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP, MI – The commitment General Motors and Honda made to create a joint venture to produce hydrogen fuel cells in 2017 finally sees daylight with the start of fuel-cell production here this week.

Both companies have pursued the technology that transforms hydrogen and oxygen into electricity since 2013. That power can drive electric motors in light vehicles and heavy-duty construction gear, and in stationary applications for data centers and backup utility power.

But there was a recognition that fuel-cell technology was not going to make it if it was relegated to a handful of cars, some of which were essentially rolling test beds. To prime the pump, the two companies invested $85 million to create a 50-50 joint venture: Fuel Cell System Mfg. (FCSM).

The companies identified a 70,000-sq.-ft. (6,500-sq.-m) space here south of Detroit with aspirations of starting production in 2020, but things took a bit longer than expected. The plant officially launched mass production of fuel cells Jan. 24.

Some 80 workers – all wearing identical white jumpsuits – produce the fuel-cell modules, performing such functions as printing electrode materials, assembling fuel cells and testing with helium (they use helium for testing: while hydrogen and helium are next to each other on the periodic table, hydrogen is flammable while helium isn’t).

Tetsuo Suzuki, vice president of FCSM, came to the organization from Honda where he had worked on the motor for the first hybrid available in the U.S., the 1999 Insight. He had been working at the plant manager of the Anna (OH) Engine Plant.

He says there are more than 300 cells in each fuel-cell module, and if one of those cells is bad, the whole unit becomes useless. Quality is key or, as he puts it, “We have a ‘zero-defects’ mindset.” Capacity is anticipated to be 2,000 modules per year by about 2025.

GM and Honda share the production output of the plant. Each has their own approach to the overall packaging: GM has its Power Cube (pictured, below), which is essentially a fuel cell in a box; Honda’s fuel-cell system resembles an internal-combustion engine, including an engine cover. Honda will be installing a fuel cell into its CR-V crossover later this year at its Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio.

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Charlie Freese, executive director of GM’s Global HYDROTEC, its fuel-cell business, started his career at Detroit Diesel more than 30 years ago. He suggests that fuel cells are “an effective alternative to diesel.”

And he’s well aware of GM’s undertakings in battery-electric vehicles: “Fuel cells are a complement to lithium-ion batteries.”

In fact, heavy-duty truck applications will likely have batteries on-board for energy storage.