Suzuki, Japan’s top minivehicle maker, said on Wednesday it aimed to match General Motors’ goal of commercialising fuel cell vehicles by 2010, Reuters reported.
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But Suzuki, which is one-fifth owned by GM, reportedly said the target could be tough to meet due to the technical challenges of adapting fuel cells for minivehicles.
“There are still many hurdles to be cleared in terms of cost and production…The exact timing of commercialisation will become clear in the next four or five years,” Suzuki president Hiroshi Tsuda said in an interview with Reuters at the Tokyo Motor Show.
GM, which has invested about $US1 billion in developing fuel cells to power electric motors in vehicles, wants to be the first vehicle maker to sell one million fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), Reuters said.
To match the range of today’s petrol-powered vehicles, FCVs would have to carry hydrogen in large fuel tanks, posing a challenge for makers of small cars like Suzuki, the report said, adding that the lack of infrastructure to supply and store hydrogen is also a worry, though auto makers are betting that as costs come down, consumer demand will follow.
“We believe that if we build it the market will come,” a General Motors vice-president, Lawrence Burns, told Reuters.
