GM's Project Driveway fuel cell program rolls past 500,000 miles next week

With all that's going on in Washington lately, the slow economy and a general apathy or even hostility toward the automotive industry, it's nice to see a technological bright spot on the horizon. While it's not a ground-breaking or earth-shattering development, General Motors' fuel cell test fleet breaking the 500,000mi (800,000km) mark demonstrates a certain maturity of the technology that reminds us that slow and steady progress can win the day.

Hydrogen fuel cells are not the widely-regarded front runners for the next generation of vehicular power sources. There are any number of reasons for this, but the primary one is that the distribution of hydrogen is inherently more costly and problematic than distribution of raw electricity.

Nevertheless, GM is forging ahead with its Project Driveway experiment, developing not only the cars but also the infrastructure necessary to support the cars. In the early stages, filling a tank of hydrogen required 20 minutes or more, but that time has been cut to 6-7 minutes thanks to user feedback and technical advances.

The user feedback itself is so far strong, according to GM. We at MotorAuthority, having driven a fuel cell Equinox, can agree that the driving experience is essentially indistinguishable from driving a standard vehicle, with the exception of the abnormally quiet ride.

Some of the systems used in the Project Driveway vehicles overlap with current production vehicles, including regenerative braking systems, and data gathered during testing has helped to improve the Saturn Vue, Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon 2-mode hybrids as well.

GM's Project Driveway fuel cell program rolls past 500,000 miles next week

With all that's going on in Washington lately, the slow economy and a general apathy or even hostility toward the automotive industry, it's nice to see a technological bright spot on the horizon. While it's not a ground-breaking or earth-shattering development, General Motors' fuel cell test fleet breaking the 500,000mi (800,000km) mark demonstrates a certain maturity of the technology that reminds us that slow and steady progress can win the day.

Hydrogen fuel cells are not the widely-regarded front runners for the next generation of vehicular power sources. There are any number of reasons for this, but the primary one is that the distribution of hydrogen is inherently more costly and problematic than distribution of raw electricity.

Nevertheless, GM is forging ahead with its Project Driveway experiment, developing not only the cars but also the infrastructure necessary to support the cars. In the early stages, filling a tank of hydrogen required 20 minutes or more, but that time has been cut to 6-7 minutes thanks to user feedback and technical advances.

The user feedback itself is so far strong, according to GM. We at MotorAuthority, having driven a fuel cell Equinox, can agree that the driving experience is essentially indistinguishable from driving a standard vehicle, with the exception of the abnormally quiet ride.

Some of the systems used in the Project Driveway vehicles overlap with current production vehicles, including regenerative braking systems, and data gathered during testing has helped to improve the Saturn Vue, Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon 2-mode hybrids as well.

Nissan phasing out production of Armada and Infiniti QX56 SUVs

Nissan is reportedly phasing out production of a number of its large vehicles at its Mississippi plant, including the Nissan Quest people mover, Nissan Armada SUV and the Armada-based Infiniti QX56. Production in the Mississippi plant will instead focus on a new large vehicle inspired by the NV2500 Concept unveiled just last month.

While Nissan is yet to confirm the demise of its fullsize SUVs, vehicles like the Armada and the Infiniti QX56 have all performed poorly in terms of sales this year, making it more and more likely that they will be dropped soon – plus the fact that strict CAFE regulations are just around the corner. Currently, the Nissan Armada is selling around half the units it did compared to last year, while the Infiniti QX56's sales are down by over a third for the year to date, reports MotorTrend.

Nevertheless, the news could just mean that Nissan will be shifting production of these models to other plants, and that the NV2500 will be joining this lineup. When Nissan unveiled the NV2500 last month, it was described as a preview of the company's entry into the North American Commercial Vehicle (CV) market.

Nissan's entrance into the commercial vehicle market may see the Japanese company sacrifice production of its poorly performing consumer SUVs and minivans, however there is still no official word from Nissan regarding this yet.

Nissan phasing out production of Armada and Infiniti QX56 SUVs

Nissan is reportedly phasing out production of a number of its large vehicles at its Mississippi plant, including the Nissan Quest people mover, Nissan Armada SUV and the Armada-based Infiniti QX56. Production in the Mississippi plant will instead focus on a new large vehicle inspired by the NV2500 Concept unveiled just last month.

While Nissan is yet to confirm the demise of its fullsize SUVs, vehicles like the Armada and the Infiniti QX56 have all performed poorly in terms of sales this year, making it more and more likely that they will be dropped soon – plus the fact that strict CAFE regulations are just around the corner. Currently, the Nissan Armada is selling around half the units it did compared to last year, while the Infiniti QX56's sales are down by over a third for the year to date, reports MotorTrend.

Nevertheless, the news could just mean that Nissan will be shifting production of these models to other plants, and that the NV2500 will be joining this lineup. When Nissan unveiled the NV2500 last month, it was described as a preview of the company's entry into the North American Commercial Vehicle (CV) market.

Nissan's entrance into the commercial vehicle market may see the Japanese company sacrifice production of its poorly performing consumer SUVs and minivans, however there is still no official word from Nissan regarding this yet.