GM, Dow join in fuel cell test project

FREEPORT, Texas, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The General Motors Corp. and the Dow Chemical Co. Tuesday unveiled a Texas project that could play a key role in development of affordable fuel cell cars.

Federal and state officials joined company executives in announcing the project at Dow's 30-square-mile complex in Freeport, Texas, 50 miles south of Houston on the Gulf Coast.

GM fuel cells will use hydrogen produced as a by-product at the Dow plant to generate about 2 percent of the electrical power needed at the huge chemical complex.

Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research, development and planning, said the project will have major importance for GM in the development of fuel cell technology for future cars.

"The pathway of getting an affordable fuel cell vehicle in your driveway sometime in the next decade runs right through Texas," he said. "What Dow is doing will directly impact the date when the hydrogen economy will become a reality."

The initial GM fuel cell will generate 75 kilowatts of power, which is enough electricity for 60 average homes for one year. Dow and GM plan to ultimately install 400 fuel cells to generate 35 megawatts of electricity, which could power 25,000 average homes.