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Uphill drive: GM bets on fuel cell technology: automaker's operational models cost $1m to build.

Article Excerpt
Inside a nondescript gray building tucked in a Southern California industrial park, the costly and still-sputtering hydrogen revolution is under way.

Attention is centered on a critical part, called a "traction inverter," that helps power hydrogen vehicles. Motors that drive fuel cell cars need constant current--not the alternating kind that comes out of an outlet--and the inverter makes that adjustment. It is currently the size of a breadbox--about two-thirds smaller than it used to be--but still too large to suit General Motors Corp. engineers.

"We try to get the size down by a third every generation," said Dave Ouwerkerk, manager of commercial and strategic projects at GM's Advanced Technology Center. "Ultimately we need a fuel cell platform that doesn't compromise performance in something like a pickup truck or a Malibu (sedan)."

The Advanced Technology Center is one of GM's half-dozen laboratories that are working to meet the company's ambitious goal of marketing a fuel cell-powered car by 2010. Already, the troubled automaker is spending more than any other company in the world on this technology in...

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