In a pivotal second within the commercialization of hydrogen gas cell techniques, GM and Honda introduced the beginning of manufacturing at their 50-50 three way partnership manufacturing facility, FCSM. FCSM is the primary large-scale manufacturing three way partnership to construct gas cells.
FCSM was established in Brownstown, Michigan, in January 2017 based mostly on a joint funding of $85 million. The 70,000-square-foot facility has already created 80 jobs. The world-class hydrogen energy options constructed at FCSM will probably be utilized by each corporations in varied product purposes and enterprise ventures.
“This can be a historic day for the trade as GM and Honda are the primary full gas cell system manufacturing three way partnership to start quantity manufacturing of gas cells for transportation and past,” stated FCSM president Suheb Haq. “We start the method with uncooked supplies for membrane and electrode throughout accomplished techniques. Ongoing funding and dedication by each corporations is driving our success at FCSM. This dedication aligns with our mission of constructing top quality, sturdy and inexpensive hydrogen gas cell techniques for a variety of purposes and clients.”
“We built-in the strengths of Honda and GM to create probably the most succesful manufacturing system at this three way partnership,” stated Tetsuo Suzuki, vice chairman of FCSM. “We introduced a mass manufacturing mindset with consideration to element and a give attention to top quality, and now we’re prepared to fulfill the wants of the shoppers for the longer term purposes of gas cell expertise and the start of the hydrogen period.”
Honda and GM engineers started work in 2013 on the co-development of the next-generation gas cell system. Along with advancing gas cell system efficiency, GM and Honda collaborated to double sturdiness in comparison with the 2019 Honda Readability Gas Cell through the use of corrosion-resistant supplies and by bettering low-temperature operation.
Collectively, the 2 corporations additionally targeted on decreasing growth and manufacturing prices by leveraging economies of scale, advancing the cell design, simplifying supporting auxiliary tools, using widespread sourcing, and decreasing using pricey treasured metals. Via this collaboration, the brand new gas cell techniques will probably be one-third inexpensive to make when in comparison with the price of the gas cell system within the 2019 Honda Readability Gas Cell.
Vital efforts have additionally been made at FCSM to make sure the very best ranges of high quality whereas bettering manufacturing productiveness. The enterprise incorporates many first-of-their-kind strategies for automating membrane-electrode-assembly manufacturing and gas cell stack meeting.
Each the GM and Honda engineering groups and the businesses’ related mental property and experience have been built-in at FCSM to create inexpensive, commercially viable hydrogen gas cell techniques to be utilized in a wide range of zero-emissions propulsion and power administration purposes.
GM and Honda share within the perception that hydrogen and gas cell expertise will play an more and more essential function in assembly all kinds of zero-emissions power and mobility wants, and every firm has offered additional particulars about their particular person hydrogen enterprise methods. Go to the hyperlinks under for added info.
Jan 26, 2024