Thirty miles north of Normal Motors’ headquarters in Detroit, tons of of engineers are growing a zero-emission various to battery-electric automobiles: hydrogen gasoline cells.

They coat ink onto carbon paper and produce miles of seals that separate air, water and coolant. They construct small-scale electrodes to check chemistries designed to create electrical energy from hydrogen with water as the one byproduct.

GM and different automakers have labored on hydrogen gasoline cells for many years, however the expertise has languished within the shadow of gasoline and battery-electric automobile improvement.

Now, gasoline cells are enjoying a key position in automakers’ methods because the push to decarbonize turns into extra pressing.

GM has a gasoline cell lab in Pontiac, Mich., and an operation with Honda in Brownstown Township, Mich. The automaker builds cells that go into stacks to make up a gasoline cell system. Every of the 300 cells in GM’s stack creates 300 watts of energy, stated Charlie Freese, govt director of GM’s hydrogen gasoline cell enterprise. The system is “nearly magical,” Freese stated.

Gas cells are often in contrast with engines in inside combustion automobiles. However “in a gasoline cell stack, there are not any transferring elements,” Freese stated. “They’re actually simply sitting there with the air and the hydrogen flowing by way of the system.”

However automakers have discovered solely a restricted marketplace for gasoline cell passenger automobiles. As a substitute, they’re discovering makes use of for the expertise in vehicles, buses and backup energy technology. And they’re taking the expertise to different industries, akin to locomotive, marine and aerospace.

Alan Martin, a technical specialist for Hydrotec, GM’s gasoline cell model, stated the automaker discovered its hydrogen candy spot a few years in the past in cross-industry partnerships. GM can stack energy cubes like Lego bricks to satisfy every buyer’s vitality want, he stated.

“All the pieces desires to go electrical proper now,” he stated. “While you get to the vehicles and trains, that is the expertise that makes that attainable.”

GM partnered with locomotive firm Wabtec Corp., aviation firm Liebherr- Aerospace and industrial truck producer Navistar in 2021.

Working with GM permits Wabtec to speed up the rail {industry}’s path to decarbonization, Wabtec CEO Rafael Santana stated in a press release saying the partnership.

The collaborations enable GM to simply adapt expertise it has spent a long time constructing, Freese stated.

“We do not intend to make locomotives, however we will make the propulsion system elements that go into locomotives and … do it with the identical investments we’re making for different functions,” he stated.

GM’s first gasoline cell utility was within the 1966 Electrovan idea. Past the Electrovan, breakthroughs of the expensive expertise took a long time, Freese stated. GM retrofitted greater than 100 Chevrolet Equinox compact crossovers with a gasoline cell system in 2007 earlier than discontinuing the mannequin in 2015.

The expertise was costly for an on a regular basis driver, and hydrogen fueling infrastructure within the U.S. was — and nonetheless is — sparse. There are simply 57 fueling stations nationally, based on the Division of Vitality. GM shifted its gasoline cell efforts to bigger automobiles, akin to industrial vehicles.

GM and Honda started engaged on gasoline cells collectively in 2013 and launched a three way partnership referred to as Gas Cell System Manufacturing to mass-produce a complicated hydrogen gasoline cell system in Brownstown Township in 2017. GM and Honda’s core gasoline cell system is frequent, however every firm makes use of the system in a different way. Some parts are shared, and a few are proprietary, Martin stated.

Different automakers have taken an analogous method. Toyota and Hyundai have every developed gasoline cell passenger automobiles. However they’ve bought poorly, and each automakers are utilizing the expertise for heavy-duty vehicles.

Low construct quantity and insufficient refueling infrastructure hamper gross sales of gasoline cell passenger automobiles, stated Darragh Punch, senior analysis analyst for North America automotive powertrain and compliance at S&P World Mobility.

“Infrastructure is woefully inadequate for large-scale rollout,” he stated. “Suppliers are working exhausting on hydrogen gasoline cell expertise however acknowledge that viability would require huge funding from the U.S. authorities on an analogous scale as has already occurred within the pure BEV house.”

Gross sales of Toyota’s Mirai gasoline cell automobile have suffered as customers searching for inexperienced automotive fashions favored BEVs. Toyota bought solely about 2,000 Mirai sedans within the U.S. final yr, based on the Automotive Information Analysis & Knowledge Heart. Throughout the identical interval, 756,534 BEVs had been registered within the U.S., based on Experian.

Now Toyota is repurposing its expertise for different markets akin to buses, trains, marine functions, heavy-duty vehicles and energy turbines.

Passenger automobiles will proceed to play a task in Toyota’s hydrogen plans, however restricted infrastructure makes them tough to scale, stated Jacquelyn Birdsall, senior engineering supervisor for Toyota’s gasoline cell integration group.

Trucking wants much less infrastructure, as many industrial automobiles that return to hubs all through the day might use one huge hydrogen station, Birdsall stated.

Gentle-duty automobiles want many extra public filling stations. “That requires much more funding, much more technique,” she stated.

Hyundai Motor Co. bought about 400 Nexo gasoline cell crossovers within the U.S. in 2022, based on the Automotive Information Analysis & Knowledge Heart. It’s utilizing the expertise for the gasoline cell Xcient tractor, which it’ll launch for the U.S. this yr. The automaker is also exploring gasoline cell functions in lots of areas within the water and air.

The {industry} is approaching a turning level for gasoline cells, powered partially by world laws favoring the expertise and decarbonization total, stated Ken Ramirez, head of the worldwide industrial automobile enterprise division for Hyundai.

“There are a number of clues that the world is transferring to hydrogen extra shortly than we thought earlier than,” he stated. “We actually do consider in hydrogen as a significant contributor to decarbonization. And so we’re enjoying in lots of areas.”

Honda had a gasoline cell automobile within the light-duty market, the Readability, however discontinued it after the 2021 mannequin yr. The automaker plans to launch one other gasoline cell automobile, primarily based on the CR-V compact crossover, in low volumes subsequent yr. Gentle-duty gasoline cell automobiles are probably the most mature utility of Honda’s expertise, the corporate stated.

“We’re severe about making them and making it a compelling product for customers,” stated Honda spokesperson Chris Martin. “It is distinctive within the North American market, and it’ll have a plug-in functionality as properly.”

Honda additionally constructed a gasoline cell boat prototype to point out the expertise’s functionality in marine functions.

Promoting gasoline cells to different industries will help amortize the event bills throughout a number of markets, decreasing the expense for every {industry}, analysts stated. The cross-industry makes use of will carry prices down sooner and will speed up commercialization for automotive functions.

Automakers are “diversifying sources of income and in addition most likely constructing scale to cut back the price place of procuring every little thing associated to the gasoline cell,” stated Kevin Laczkowski, world co-leader of McKinsey & Co.’s Automotive & Meeting Apply.

Promoting the expertise can be a approach to hedge uncertainty, added Brian Loh, a companion on the agency.

“It’s unsure how briskly gasoline cells get traction in mild automobile,” he stated. “Having diversification is a approach to hedge.”

The industrial automobile {industry} will doubtless put money into gasoline cell automobiles first, after which automakers will start to capitalize on their investments, stated Mark Barrott, automotive and mobility apply chief at Plante Moran.

“To a sure extent, we’re in an experimental section,” he stated. “Quantity, price and effectivity of the expertise will assist us decide the place we find yourself.”