Honda and GM, both of which are very real companies, announced this morning that they will partner together on a fantasy technology called hydrogen fuel cells.
For those of you unfamiliar with hydrogen fuel cells, they are very simple. First you harvest raw hydrogen using fairy dust, then you sprinkle that fairy dust on politicians looking for "green credentials" and then nothing happens. This system works very well for making sparkly concept cars that carmakers show off until government subsidies dry up and everyone goes back to making hybrids.
GM and Honda claimed this morning that they will have hydrogen fuel cell cars in showrooms by 2020, which is totally different than the time GM claimed they'd have hydrogen cars in showrooms by 2004. Meanwhile Daimler, Ford, and Nissan claimed they'd have hydrogen cars in showrooms by 2017. Toyota (partnered with BMW) claim they'll have a fuel cell car on the road by 2015.
The two companies will be sharing their road-car expertise. Honda stated they'd debut a new generation of the Honda FCX Clarity in 2015 and GM did't give any specifics of what they'd make.
While the technology exists, of course, GM and Honda copped to the one massive hurdle we still have to face before we can have a large-scale hydrogen car market: Refueling infrastructure. Fueling stations costing $1 or $2 million, reports Automotive News, and there are approximately ten of them in the United States.
Photo Credit: GM (2008)/Honda (2010)