DETROIT: Ford is joining with Daimler and Renault-Nissan to speed development of cars that run on hydrogen, with hopes of bringing a vehicle to market in four years.
Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles generate electricity after a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is stored in special high-pressure tanks, and the only emissions are water vapor and heat.
Each company will invest equally in the technology. They plan to develop a common fuel-cell system that the companies will use to power their own vehicles. The companies also plan to take advantage of their combined size to reduce costs.
Many automakers have been testing the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles for years, but so far haven’t been able to bring costs down enough to sell the vehicles in mass markets. The zero-emissions cars have potential to cut pollution and reduce the world’s reliance on oil.
“Working together will significantly help speed this technology to market at a more affordable cost to our customers,” Raj Nair, Ford’s group vice president for global product development, said in a statement issued Monday.
The companies said that engineering work on the individual fuel cells and the overall hydrogen system will be done jointly by the companies at several locations. They also are studying joint development of other parts for fuel-cell vehicles in an effort to bring down costs.
Work will be done at the site of a previous fuel-cell joint venture between Ford and Daimler in Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as a Daimler facility in Nabern, Germany, and a Nissan operation in Oppama, Japan.
The automakers say that together they have 60 years of experience developing fuel-cell vehicles. Their test vehicles have traveled more than 6.2 million miles.