U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is collaborating with General Motors to add a commercial hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system to a Chevy Colorado midsize pickup truck.
The electric fuel cell system comes from GM, and the U.S. Army will be testing the Colorado truck over a period of 12 months in extreme environments of daily military use.
This is an interesting development that shows that both GM and the U.S. Army are serious about electric vehicles that are powered by hydrogen fuel cell. It is a natural progression towards the next-generation of propulsion technology in a pickup truck. Electric motors are very torquey and hydrogen refueling takes little time, when compared to recharging a battery. The biggest challenge is the availability of hydrogen refueling stations/infrastructure.
Learn all the details about the realities of a hydrogen fuel cell car in this “Everything” video featuring the production 2016 Toyota Mirai.
The U.S. Army is interested in the technology as electric vehicles are nearly silent, and the only byproduct/exhaust of a hydrogen fuel cell system is water.
Here is another Chevy Colorado with an interesting power train – the 2016 Colorado Duramax turbo-diesel.
