General Motors Co. in Detroit and Honda have started production of hydrogen fuel cell systems at their 50-50 joint venture production facility, FCSM, in Brownstown Township.
The FCSM facility is the first large-scale manufacturing joint venture to build fuel cells and was established in January 2017 based on a mutual investment of $85 million. The 70,000-square-foot site already has created 80 jobs. The hydrogen power systems built at FCSM will be used by both companies in various product applications and business ventures.
“This is an historic day for the industry as GM and Honda are the first full fuel cell system manufacturing joint venture to begin volume production of fuel cells for transportation and beyond,” says Suheb Haq, president of FCSM. “We begin the process with raw materials for membrane and electrode all the way through completed systems.
“Ongoing investment and commitment by both companies is driving our success at FCSM. This commitment aligns with our mission of making high quality, durable, and affordable hydrogen fuel cell systems for a wide range of applications and customers.”
Honda and GM engineers began work in 2013 on the co-development of the next-generation fuel cell system. In addition to advancing fuel cell system performance, GM and Honda worked together to double durability compared to the 2019 Honda Clarity fuel cell by using corrosion-resistant materials and by improving low-temperature operation.
“We integrated the strengths of Honda and GM to create the most capable production system at this joint venture,” says Tetsuo Suzuki, vice president of FCSM. “We brought a mass production mindset with attention to detail and a focus on high quality, and now we are ready to meet the needs of the customers for the future applications of fuel cell technology and the beginning of the hydrogen era.”
Together, the two companies also focused on lowering development and manufacturing costs by using economies of scale, advancing the cell design, simplifying supporting auxiliary equipment, utilizing common sourcing, and reducing the use of costly precious metals. Through this collaboration, the new fuel cell systems should be one-third less expensive to make when compared to the cost of the fuel cell system in the 2019 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell.
Efforts have also been made at FCSM to ensure high levels of quality while improving manufacturing productivity by incorporating new methods for automating membrane-electrode-assembly production and fuel cell stack assembly.
Both the GM and Honda engineering teams and the companies’ relevant intellectual property and expertise have been integrated at FCSM to create affordable, commercially viable hydrogen fuel cell systems to be used in a variety of zero-emissions propulsion and energy management applications.
