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General Motors Corp said on Wednesday it was partnering with Clean Energy Fuels Corp on a new hydrogen refueling station in Los Angeles that the companies hope will be the first of many.

GM is one of a handful of car companies developing fuel cell-powered vehicles, which run on hydrogen and emit only water vapor. Fuel cell vehicles are being touted as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the United States’ dependency on pricey crude oil.

In a statement, the two companies said they are discussing opportunities to expand the first station, which will be located near Los Angeles International Airport, into a network of hydrogen stations used to refuel fuel cell vehicles.
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After powering the micro-electronics revolution, silicon could carve out an important new role in speeding the debut of ultra-clean fuel cell vehicles powered by hydrogen, researchers in China suggest. Their calculations show for the first time that silicon nanotubes can store hydrogen more efficiently than their carbon nanotube counterparts.
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General Motors Corp.’s leading proponent of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles will challenge the energy industry and governments to commit to developing a public hydrogen fueling infrastructure when he addresses the National Hydrogen Association’s annual conference in Sacramento, Calif., today.

In his keynote address to the conference aimed at ramping up commercialization of hydrogen, GM Vice President of Research & Development and Strategic Planning Larry Burns is expected to urge cooperation from government and the energy industry and to outline GM’s proposed plan for establishing hydrogen fueling stations first in small numbers in and around a few major cities and over time connecting cities to one another along main arteries.

“The automobile industry has reached a critical juncture in our journey to realize the full potential of hydrogen fuel cell-electric vehicles,” Burns is expected to say as part of his prepared remarks. “We have now reached a point where the energy industry and governments must pick up their pace so we can continue to advance in a timely manner.”

Urban areas that could be first to establish hydrogen fueling infrastructures include Berlin, Shanghai and Los Angeles, Burns says.
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